Akagi Sphere
by SDI hyper
Summary: A small reaction can change the course of the world. It takes efforts from both sides to stop it.The deceased inside of the Farplane,and the living in Spira. Whether it’s stopped or not, Spira will change forever. ShuyinBaralai Baralai Gippal, ShuyinTidu
1. Default Chapter

Akagi Sphere.

By Sdi hypervelocity

A small reaction can change the course of the world. It takes efforts from both sides, it's the only way to stop it. The deceased inside of the Farplane, and the living in Spira. Whether it's stopped or not, Spira will change forever. Shuyin/Baralai Baralai/ Gippal, Shuyin/Tidus

Chapter one: Black Velvet

This was it, finally the day had come, the one he waited for years. In the farthest reaches of the Farplane, a secluded place, cut off from everything. A place where wandering and angry souls found strength and became some of the strongest fiends Spira had ever seen, possibly the most dangerous place ever conceived. This seemed like the perfect place where no one could ever find him, a place he could carry out his plans in peace. This place only seemed right, the Farplane, and the place of his torture. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't _find her_, he couldn't see _her_. Not in this place of rest for those that had passed on, the only place she could possibly had gone to, and after so much searching, nothing. Both of them died together, but now were separated.

_**Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell**_

This world was a horrible place, even though it had changed much from Zanarkand a thousand years ago. The same meaningless fighting that took so many life, still taking place. The exact same thing that happened then is was still happing now, the same war was going to take place, and the only difference was the names. This world was doing it to itself, it was getting what it deserved.

_**Jimmy Rogers on the Victoria up high**_

This world denied him the only thing he wanted, the only thing he needed. This world was full of ignorant people, senseless fighting and meaningless hate. This place was useless, bringing him nothing but pain and sorrow with all of it. She was so close, he could feel her, but when he felt like he was almost there, almost to _her_, this world took it away, he couldn't be with her. Just teasing him and taunting him. Every second made him lonelier and angrier, thinking about it only made these feelings grow.

_**Mama's dancin' with baby on her shoulders**_

He had nothing left to lose now, this world had taken everything from him. Now he would destroy this place from the inside out as it had done him, this world that sentenced him to a 1000 years of growing despair and isolation.

_**The sun is settin' like molasses in the sky**_

Shuyin just wanted to be with someone, so he wouldn't have to feel this sorrow anymore, just for a moment. But there was only one person he wanted to be with...

_**The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything**_

Using the body of another to do what he wanted in this world he knew it would be over soon, all he had to do is activate Veganagun's weapons system and it would be over.

_**Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for**_

But this rising despair inside of him was making him lose focus, it became the only thing that he could concentrate on anymore.

_**Black velvet and that little boy's smile**_

All he needed was somebody, for one minute, for a second… then he could focus again. Right now it was so bad he couldn't even remember how to activate Veganagun, he had to do something.

_**Black velvet with that slow southern style**_

Shuyin fell to his knees, letting his hands fall off the keyboard structure used to control the weapon and slam down to the ground. His current host, Baralai, was the only thing he had right now, the only other person here, and the man's mind was like an open book. Everything Shuyin was feeling, Baralai felt, every movement he made, Baralai made. This deep connection and the thought of some one sharing his pain was a little amount of consolation, it helped. Right now Baralai was the only one that knew how it felt, the only one that understood.

_**A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees**_

A glow surrounded Baralai, a light yellow aura. Pireflies started to rise out of his body. A small amount of willl returned to him, but it was clear that Shuyin was still mostly in control. His breath went cold, appearing in a visible white cloud before him, Baralai could feel Shuyin standing behind him. He could feel a lot of things about Shuyin, n o longer a body inhabiting spirit but something more real, more physical.

_**Black velvet if you please**_

Baralai could guess what was going to happen next, he still felt what Shuyin felt. Everything in side of him was overwhelming, this raging anger, this painful sorrow, and the overwhelming loneliness, everything that Shuyin had. In a way he wanted this to, but since it was all from Shuyin he would never admit it to himself.

_**Up in Memphis the music's like a heatwave**_

Shuyin wrapped his arms around the man's neck, slowly and unsure of his actions. The warmth felt good on his cold skin. Shuyin pulled him closer, pressing his head against Baralai's neck, softly kissing the small area just above his shoulder. Shuyin slipped his hand under Baralai's arm, reaching under the green over coat, running his hands over the dark skin and the warmth that lay there.

_**White lightening, bound to drive you wild**_

It was like a feeling of Shuyin's came in to his body, it entered his mind feeling as natural as his own thought that he was compelled to follow. And he did so, Baralai reached up and untied the collar, taking off the over coat. Shuyin's hands lifted from under his shirt, moving down to his waist, untying his yellow belt and tossing it aside. Watching intently as the white robe like shirt fell open and his pants sagged substantially. Baralai was suddenly pulled backwards, pushed down to the floor roughly. Shuyin slipped through the small space, climbing on his knees above Baralai's chest.

_**Mama's baby's in the heart of every school girl**_

The light hands pressed on to Baralai's chest for support, Shuyin lowered his body, face to face with Baralai for the first time. He couldn't help but study his features.

_**"Love me tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle**_

For a second Shuyin froze, both men stared at each other. Baralai looked up at him, his mouth open slightly, his eyes filled mixed emotions, confusion, sadness, worry, and a quiet desire. He wanted this, he didn't want to desire this but he did...

_**The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true**_

Shuyin smiled in an uncharacteristically warm manner, kissing him softly, exploring every inch of Baralai's mouth. He just wanted to lose himself, to forget everything and stay in this moment for as long as possible. Shuyin's tongue drew back and he broke the kiss, mad at Baralai's body for it's need of air. His stayed still, moving his hands to the floor above Baralai's shoulders and pushing himself up off of Baralai, his eyes falling closing. Baralai planted one hand on the cool ground behind himself to sit up, lifting the other hand to the spiky blond strands Shuyin's of hair. He leaned forward in to another kiss. Shuyin was controlling his body again.

_**Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for**_

With graceful agility his hands moved down Shuyin's back until it reached the rim of his shirt, then carefully he pulled it away with a small amount of help from Shuyin, still holding his body up with his right hand. He broke the kiss for a second to finish removing the article of clothing, not an easy task with one hand and the rest of your body in a very awkward position. He slowly lowered himself down to the ground taking Shuyin with him with his arm wrapped around the man's neck. The older man above him showed his gratitude with an incoherent moan into the recaptured kiss.

_**Black velvet and that little boy's smile**_

Shuyin broke the kiss, muttering a curse at himself for some reason unknown to Baralai. Then he stood up, pulling off his shorts and boxers at the same time until he was completely naked except for his shoes, which he didn't bother to take off.

_**Black velvet with that slow southern style**_

Baralai felt two cool hands on his waist as Shuyin lowered himself on to his knees above the other man, they were still for a moment, Shuyin studying Baralai's face once more before he pulled off Baralai's pants. Shuyin let his eyes roll over the warm body reveled in front of him, the only thing that remained was the blue headband on his head.

_**A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees**_

Shuyin laid his head on the other man's chest, just feeling the warmth for a while, it felt good since he was so cold... Heat, Something that he never thought he would experience in his 1000 years of afterlife. He reached up and pulled Baralai's arms around his torso, he was completely surrounded in warmth of Baralai's embrace. This is what he wanted, to feel that warmth, to feel something, anything but pain and despair. He felt like a child in this kind of embrace, but he didn't care, he wanted more, he needed more, of this _touch,_ he hoped nothing would make him stop.

_**Black velvet if you please**_

The cool hands roamed down Baralai's exposed torso, the man jumped when he felt them wrap around his growing erection, the erection didn't have any corrosion by Shuyin, this was all by his own admission. Right now it was the warmest part of Baralai, the heat drew him to it like a moth to a flame. "Baralai..."

_**Every word of every song that he sang was for you**_

Shuyin wrapped his mouth around the sensitive flesh, moving his tongue along every part of it he could manage almost hungrily. Baralai reached down, clinching Shuyin's golden hair in a grip that had to be painful, letting out a soft moan that was followed by a deep sigh. He couldn't tell if Shuyin was making him do this or was he doing this on his own. Shuyin didn't seem to mind, blowing a soft-wet rush of humid air that surrounded the head of Baralai's erection.

_**In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon, what could you **_

_**do?**_

"Shu...yin." Baralai's soft moans grew louder, prompting Shuyin to reach up with his free hand and pushed Baralai down when his body would have arched up. With one last humid breath that sent a tingle up Baralai's spine, Shuyin stopped completely, lifting his head.

He looked up at Baralai, he had that same look on his face as before, one filled with confusion and questioning. A smirk crossed Shuyin's lips as he took hold of the man's waist with both hands, with his strength he lifted him off the ground and quickly turned him over on to his stomach. It happened so fast, leaving Baralai more confused then ever.

_**Black velvet and that little boy's smile**_

Shuyin crawled over the other man, his fingers gently clinging his shoulders as he pressed his erection against Baralai's entrance, dripping with pre-cum. It seemed to be the only warm part of his body. He went slowly at first, going in as far as he could manage until his length was completely inside of the other man. Baralai clenched his hands together tightly and burred his head into his arms, biting down on his lower lip. Shuyin went even slower, despite his current situation he didn't want to hurt Baralai.

_**Black velvet with that slow southern style**_

Shuyin paused, lowering himself on to Baralai until his chest was pressed against his back. And with tightening grip on Baralai's shoulder he moved again, thrusting in to Baralai.

_**A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees**_

His eye flared wide as Shuyin withdrew from him. A drop of sweat rolled down his head from acquired heat, quickly being stopped by his head band. He felt Shuyin stop again, changing his angle again to the left before continuing. He hit a spot in Baralai that made his whole body tense instantly and his mouth open wide, drawing a moan of pleasure from him. His breath grew short, his hart raced and his body became hotter with every movement.

_**Black velvet if you please**_

Baralai clinched again when Shuyin hit that spot again, this time intently. Shuyin increased his pace to adjust to the tighter space... "Baralai..." Shuyin called out softly, burring his head in to Baralai's neck, grazing it with warm breaths and wet kiss.

_**Black velvet and that little boy's smile**_

It finally be came to much for him, the last quick thrust from Shuyin pushed him to his limit. Every muscle in his body tightened, his body surging from long a waited and overdue release. Baralai forced his head deeper into his arms, "Shu...Shuyin...!" Stifling a fairly audible groan as he came, spilling his seed on to the cold metal floors with a few successive spurts.

_**Black velvet with that slow southern style**_

Shuyin removed an arm from the man's shoulder and wrapped it around Baralai's waist, pulling him up on to his hands and knees for his own ease. He drove his cock in harder, moving faster, pulling Baralai's body back in time with his thrust. He could feel Baralai tightening around him again as he hit that spot, squirming sideways at his swiftly driving cock, adding just that last bit of stimulation needed. Shuyin dropped his head and panted as the warm cum spurted in to Baralai out as Shuyin withdrew from the warm body.

_**A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees**_

But...he still couldn't concentrate…..

_**Black velvet if you please**_

The sound of two voice interrupted them. One belonging to Gippal, the other to Nooj.

Shuyin quickly gathered himself, his body decomposed in to nothing but a small sea of Pireflies and lights, then he re-entered Baralai's body to bring it into his full possession. Silently mumbling a small curse for this.

He wasn't even finished.

_**if you please **_

Black Velvet by Alannah Myles

I had to do this, I stopped everything else to write this. After beating Final Fantasy X-2 with a PERFECT COMPLETION 100. So I Know all of what happens at the end of the game. But finals are coming up, I shouldn't have stopped _everything_


	2. Chapter 2: MIRACLE

Chapter 2: **MIRACLE **

"Gippal, are you all right?" Nooj ran over to his fallen friend, catching Gippal before he fell completely and helping him back on to his feet.

"Not rEally." Gippal rubbed his leg feverously, hoping to reduce the pain shooting through him like needles and electricity, he couldn't move it any more. They both stood face to face in a battle with the monstrous fiend Omega Weapon, half way deep into the inner reaches of the Farplane abyss. The Fiend stretched the wing like appendages on his back, firing rays of streaking white energy out of the large porous openings on them like rain. Somewhere in the mist of following smoke and explosions, the already weakened Gippal was knocked out.

_**How could I throw away a miracle?**_

Nooj thrust the barrel of his gun in to the ground, with the use of a fair amount of MP and a few special rounds, glowing lights started to rise out of the gray stone bridge that lay under Omega Weapon. Bright and vibrant colors made their way threw the white light in an esoteric pattern, unleashing a powerful upward rising energy on the fiend's body. It howled in pain after nearly being blown away, and there was no way it would take that kind of attack lightly. It countered with it's Judgment attack, letting out a strong, nearly invisible wave that came crashing down on him from above his head. The oppressive force easily crushed Nooj down to the ground on his stomach.

_**How could I face another day?**_

Nooj fought the attack, forcing himself to stand with all of his strength just as the shortly residing wave dispersed, taking a lot of his life with it. Free of the oppressing energy, Nooj reached into his inventory, shuffling around in a frantic haste with the knowledge that he didn't have a lot of time. "Come on, Come on...Where is it!" After another second of impatient rummaging, he found what he was looking for and immediately used his last Phoenix down on Gippal.

He sprang back to life in a typical Gippal manner, first lifting the large cannon like machine instinctively. With the memory of the fight blaring in his head, Gippal aimed the cannon up to the sky as soon as he caught a clear glimpse at the fiend, using his Mortar Overdrive. A blunt gra missile with a green warhead lunched out of the machine, going upward a short distance with a screech, pausing for a half second. Then nose diving head first on to the Weapon with a burst explosion, engulfing it with a sea of green fire.

It howled again, dropping to it's knees still scorching with the strange colored flames. That was enough to kill off the fiend.

_**It's all of my doing**_

"What happened?" Nooj pulled Gippal's arm over his shoulder as soon as he holster his weapon, leading the way and helping him walk across the strange gray floors. This may have been the very definition of Ironic, Nooj having to help him walk.

Nook carefully laid him down against a wall next to the edge of a canyon and a sea if floating plat forms leading to a distant Veganagun. "I don't know." Gippal replied. "That thing shot something threw my leg and now I can't move it." He wasn't sure what it had been, all he knew was that it still burned as much as when the foreign object first entered his leg.

Nooj examined the leg with a few nods to himself and a small bit of physical scrutinizing. "Poison probably." He drew a small vile out of his pocket filled with yellow liquid, apparently an antidote.

_**I made a choice**_

He pulled the top off and poured the contents on the wound in Gippal's left leg.

Gippal winced from the searing pain that came along with the antidote, he tried to bite down on his lip to keep from crying out but it didn't work. "Ouch!" It made the wound burn worse than before, more streaks of pains like needles and electricity followed. He cringed, holding himself still while Nooj emptied the rest of the antidote.

"Alright, you stay here, I'll go ahead and-"

"Hey wait!" Gippal objected. "Your going to take on Veganagun by yourself?"

"No, I'm going to scout ahead, I'll be waiting down the road." Nooj patted Gippal on the back before he used his cane to stand up. He began walking to the each before Gippal could get in another word. "Catch up when your leg feels better." He left Gippal to watch while he crossed the floating platforms with surprising ease, before long he was on the other side, then completely out of sight all together.

_**And, today, I pay **_

"Damn, just my luck." Gippal mumbled as he reached into his inventory and retrieving a hi-potion, pausing lightly to brace himself before pouring a small amount over his left leg and drinking the rest. It took longer to work this time then before, in fact after 5 minutes it still hadn't taken affect. What ever he had been infected with it was potent poison, the dead monster that did this should have been proud.

Gippal reached in to his inventory again and took out another Antidote, and trying a different approach he held his noise and threw his head back to drink the bitter fluid. Now it was starting to work

_**My heart is full of pain**_

Gippal sat and waited with his right leg drawn up and his left still stretched out before him, hoping that the pain in his leg would at lest lessen. Soon after it started too, but by the time it finished it left his leg completely numb. Close enough.

_**How could you understand the way I feel? **_

Using the canon in his arms as leverage, he tried to pull himself up on to his feet. But as soon as he moved his left leg, a rush of pain shot threw it like a bullet. "!" He eased him self back down to the ground with clinched fist and wide eyes. Maybe he just had to wait a little longer……

_**How could you relate to so much pain? **_

Among other things, Gippal started to get worried, after 20 minutes Nooj hadn't returned. His luck was holding and no fiends attacked him so he had time to heal. And it was starting to, but he still had a long way to go. 'Damnit, why didn't I learn any healing spells?'

_**Seems as though nothing**_

He closed his eyes for a minute, trying to think. But his attempt at thoughts were ruined by the sound of approaching footsteps. "Nooj?" He opened his eyes with hope that it was him, but he found worse than he expected, it turned out to be none other than Baralai. But he was standing there, minus one shirt, just looking at him. The idea crossed his mind that it may have been the real Baralai, he sure seemed confused enough.

_**Can comfort me**_

The possibility that Nooj caught him of guard wasn't impossible, it was actually very likely. What if Nooj's plan worked? He was going to allow Shuyin to enter his body, which was rigged to take out Shuyin and himself with it, fitting for a death seeker. 'Nooj! No..., you stupid bastard how could you do this!'

Had gotten Gippal so caught up thinking that he almost forgot about what was happening in front of him. His mind was snapped back into awareness when he heard Baralai coming towards him.

_**So, today, I pray **_

"Wait a minute!" Gippal lifted the Cannon weapon in an attempt to keep him back. But Baralai only advanced toward him, as if he didn't even hear him, something was wrong with this situation. "Hey stop!" He reassured his threat by placing his finger on the trigger and pulling the slide with his other hand. Baralai didn't hesitate or even slow down for a second. "Stop!" Gippal pulled the trigger, releasing a small missile from at the back of the weapon, flying with a trail of smoke directly at Baralai, at the last second it veered to the left and missed him completely.

Baralai kept going undeterred by the near attack, walking towards him as if in a complete daze. Baralai never looked like this, even with Shuyin inside of him, this was strange. "Stop or next time I wont miss."

_**That someone should listen**_

Baralai came to a stop, though it was a very late stop since he was standing directly over Gippal. This was his chance, it would be over quickly if he fired at this range.

Gippal's hands begain to shake, rattling the weapon, he tried his best to steady the Machine but with no success. He… couldn't do it, if he fired at this range, he'd kill Baralai for sure. And then what, if Shuyin was still in side of Baralai , he would only move to his body.

_**For nothing should matter**_

As if that's all he needed to see, Baralai begin to move forward again, taking one step closer. He pushed the weapon away by the side of it's long barrel, reaching down to seize Gippal by his collar and lift him in the air. Baralai was strong, fully capable of lifting Gippal with one hand.

_**Not when love grows inside you**_

"Stop it!" Gippal grabbed Baralai's arm, easily pushing him off. With lost support he landed on both feet- "AHHHH!" He shouted in pain collapsing to the ground directly afterwords, the pain was to much for him. Even if he defeated Baralai, which wouldn't be an easy, more like near impossible, task, he would never be able to get away with his leg. He was completely helpless.

_**The choice is yours**_

"Damnit!" He pounded his fist against the ground in frustration as he stared up at Baralai, if he wouldn't have been so careless this would have never happened to him!... Gippal rolled over on to his back as carefully as he could, still causing him a great of pain. Baralai bent knelt down next to him, looking over him with a strange smile that was so unBaralai like.

_**There's a miracle in store **_

Gippal laid there shrouded in confusion, rubbing his leg with both legs, hoping the pain would dull soon. 'What is he doing?' He inquired blankly, waiting for whatever was going to happen next. "...Baralai?"

_**Nothing should matter**_

Baralai knelt down above him, planting both hands on the ground across from his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Gippal asked nervously while Baralai silently moved closer to him, coming close enough to bring them face to face, close enough for Gippal looked up in to his soulless eyes, and immediately push him back at the sight. Gippal was the stronger of the two, even though Baralai used physical attacks and weapons that required direct combat while Gippal used Machines and guns to attack.

_**Not when love grows inside you**_

Baralai used his to push himself closer, finally slipping past Gippal's arms that had been pushing at his chest, and pressing his body against the man below him. "Baralai-mmm..mmmmm" His voice was muffled by the sudden contact of their lips, he tried his best to push him off but Baralai had already wrapped his arms around his torso in a strong grip and he couldn't pry him away.

_**A voice of love is crying out **_

Gippal could feel the tongue softly running over his lips, waiting for access. A sharp pain shot up from his leg making Gippal flinch, his hold on Baralai's shoulders loosen and his lips part with a sudden gasp. A warm tongue slipped in to his mouth, licking the roof of his mouth tentively. Baralai drew his head away just enough for him to move his mouth "Barialai….St-" A squeeze to his leg made his body cringe and his mouth open wide.

_**"Don't throw love away" **_

With an eerie smile on his face and a hold on Gippal's leg, he began to undress the layer of clothing covering the other man's body. "What the hell are you doing? Stop!" Gippal tried to fight back, but with his inflicted poison injured he really could do nothing to stop him.

_**There's a miracle in store **_

Finally after a few more moments of futile struggling against a determined Baralai he was completely naked, and was able to get a good look at the wound on his leg. What ever injected the poison had gone completely threw his leg, but it missed the bone and went in to the muscle. It would take days for the antidote to work at this rate, and until the antidote did it's job then he couldn't start healing...

"Why aren't you saying anything...: Two warm hands ran over his chest, soft lips pressed against his... The feeling brought a sense of futility over Gippal, he had no chance of fighting back now, but things could be worse. At lest it was _Baralai_ doing this to him. So finally he accepted it and opened up, no point in refusing it now.

_**How could I let go of a miracle? **_

A unresponsive Baralai happily took the open mouth, softly caressing his cheek with one uplifted hand. Gippal moaned his appreciation for not hurting his leg this time, and slowly but surly he started kissed back.

Baralai looked back down at him with a victorious grin that made Gippal nervous, but he couldn't help but be completely sucked in by the other man's pace.

_**Nothing could ever take its place**_

But...look at where they were, this couldn't happen _here_.

"No… stop…." Gippal pleaded between what little reprieve he could get, "There are fiends everywhere…" There were fiends everywhere, this was the worst place to stop, not to mention Nooj could come back at anytime. A dark finger pressed a his lips in quieting manner, "Don't….We can't." Baralai ignored him, nuzzling in to his neck, softly nibbling the light flesh.

_**Thought I was looking**_

"Don't worry…" Baralai told him, sucking the joint between his neck and shoulder. "I'm here, I won't leave."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll stay with you until the end." Baralai cut off Gippal's words with another kiss, his handing roamed down between the older man's legs.

_**Out for myself**_

His hand wrapped around Gippal's erection, rubbing the head with his thumb. Gippal closed his eyes tightly, biting down hard on his lip, squirming a little bit. ! "AHHHH" He cried out in pain from his movement, he had forgotten about his leg for the moment, that was until he tried to move it.

_**Now, it seems the pain **_

Baralai sighed, pausing from what he was doing to move his hands over Gippal's wounded leg. His eyes closed with Baralai's usual concentration, he seemed to be casting a spell by the way the light flashes of sparkles appeared.

Gippal's whole body began to glow, making him uneasy. Anything could have been being cast on him. "What? What is this?"

It was some kind of healing spell Baralai knew, a mix of Regain and Esnua. Baralai may not have been as strong as Gippal, but he had a expert knowledge of spells and the intelligence to use them effectively. He even had the unique skill for mixing them together.

_**Is all that I have gained**_

With a entertained smile on his face from the reaction he had gotten, Baralai continued his administrations to Gippal's body. This time Gippal held his body completely tense and still, not moving a muscle from fear of pain. Baralai knew how to take care of this easily.

_**I wonder if I could be your miracle **_

He crawled downward from above Gippal's chest to settle himself between his legs, taking a long lick of the erection that had formed there with a light smirk. Apparently Gippal wanted this more then he at first let on. Gippal flinched from the unexpected sensation, this time his leg didn't feel as bad as before when he accidentally forced the muscles to work, the spell was working..

_**I wonder if I could spare you pain**_

Baralai wrapped his mouth around Gippal's cock, the tip of his tongue ran along the crevasse under the head of the erection. Teasing him.

_**Seems as though nothing**_

All of a sudden Baralai stopped, drawing back Gippal. "Huh?" Gippal down up questioningly, watching Baralai climb on to his knees, waiting. 'What's with him?'

_**Will comfort me **_

He couldn't wait any longer, he wanted this to badly, Baralai had pulled him in to this, he wasn't going to quit now. Maybe it was his own body craving release or some form of influence, either way he wouldn't let this stop now, not for no reason at all.

_**Ohh 'less, today, I pray**_

Gippal slowly pulled him self up, trying to keep as much weight off his leg as possible. With one hand holding on to the wall behind him he slowly pressed his himself against Baralai. Waiting for a minute, making sure that Baralai wasn't going to make him stop. He wanted this to much to stop now.

_**That you should come listen **_

Taking a deep breath, Gippal ran his hands threw Baralai's thick white hair, pulling him in another kiss. 'This is crazy! What the hell am I doing…'...Gippal stopped himself , just a minute ago he was trying to get away from him, now he was doing to Baralai what Baralai had did to him. And this must have been exactly what Baralai wanted all along even though this was the worst timing. And the worst place. But it didn't seem to matter, he couldn't seem to help himself.

_**For nothing should matter **_

Gippal pushed him against the wall, His hands skimmed down the sleek body. He lowered himself to his knees, striping the man of the remaining clothing he had.

_**Not when love grows inside you The choice is yours **_

He came up for another kiss, ignoring the pain in his leg. His hands again wandered down to Baralai's waste, running over the dark thighs and taking hold of his legs. He lifted Baralai, holding him above the ground.

_**There's a miracle in store Nothing should matter **_

Gippal pushed Baralai down to the ground hastily, slipped one of his arms under Baralai's right legs, positioning him self so that his erection was pressing against Baralai's entrance. Gippal looked up at the Baralai again, the look on his face was priceless.

_**Not when love grows inside you A voice of love is crying out **_

Gippal slowly pushed his cock in the tight entrance, Baralai flinched a little, holding on Gippal's shoulders in a almost painful grip as he felt him move deeper and deeper inside of him. "Ahhh….' Baralai moaned softly, his hands fall from Gippal's shoulders to his sides as soon as he'd gotten a little more use to the feeling. "Gippal..." A deep breath followed, his eyes half lidded.

_**"Don't throw love away" There's a miracle in store **_

Gippal thrusting became more intense, the severe pain of his leg mixing with the pleasure Baralai's body was drawing from him with each move he made.

Gippal lifted a still glowing hand Baralai's cheek, unable to resist touching the soft skin even as he drove his full length in to Baralai. Almost seeming as though he was falling, Gippal lowered himself until he could feel Baralai's torso against his own, taking shorter but quicker thrust.

Gippal looked in his green eyes, pressing his lips to Baralai's, stifling his next sound that threatened to pass through his lips.

_**Don't ever throw away your miracle**_

Finally his weak leg couldn't hold his weight up any longer and he collapsed, falling to his knees with Baralai still in his arms. His breath was heavy against Baralai's chest from the pain pulsing through his body, he realized now that it wasn't the smartest position to take with his injury.

_**Don't let it slip away**_

With an amused laugh and light smile, Baralai planting both hands on Gippal's shoulders and pushed Gippal on to his back. "The same Gippal I remember..."

'What dose that mean?' Gippal tried to find the concentration to think about what had just been said to him, but anything else in his mind disappeared as he watched Baralai lifting off his cock then trusting against his hips. "Bar-Baralai….." That felt too good to describe, each movement Baralai made seemed to farther nullify any pain he was feeling at the moment. Gippal's head fell backwards on to the ground and his eyes closed, he tensed and cried out again, this time louder then before. "Uhaa...!" Gippal held on to anything, which happened to be Baralai, he could reach as the tight warmth surrounding his cock to push the man to his limit. Gippal's eyes clinched tightly enough to draw out tears in the corner of his eyes, his softening member emptying his seed in side Baralai.

_**So nothing should matter **_

Gippal's body fell loosely back to the ground with out Gippal ever have knowing he arched up, a panting Baralai still mounted on top of him, who only stood up and reached for his clothing.

"Baralai?"

The momentary weakness caused a lapse for Baralai, for a small moment, a bare glimpse, Gippal could see Shuyin still in side of his friend's body, along with a single Pirefly that had escaped and was now rising. "Shuyin…" Gippal narrowed his eyes, he had been a little surprised with this whole pattern of behavior that wasn't like Baralai at all, but why hadn't he seen that?

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen a lot of things he should have, he hadn't even been thinking. Like, why during all of this didn't he see a fiend in sight? In fact he hadn't been able to think at all, the one time he had tried to concentrate he found himself unable too. He was too busy being drawn to Baralai...Damn, why didn't he see this? "So you were controlling me the whole time..."

It didn't take him long too figure out that. But still, someplace in his mind, he still had harbored the hope that it was Baralai even when at first it didn't seem like such, that didn't help the situation. It had worked to Shuyin's advantage.

_**No, nothing should matter**_

Baralai (Shuyin) just flashed a cocky smirk and walked away, seemingly vanishing.

"Damnit!"

_**Not when love grows inside you**_

He laid there in the same spot, fully clothed and of complete mind... The spell Baralai had cast on his leg worked, at lest he could say that much, it had already almost completely fished healing him when it would have taken days or weeks for the healing to start on it's own. He was grateful for that, but he wasn't sure why Shuyin had done it, Gippal could only be a problem for him later on.

Gippal sighed, staring strait up at the ceiling. He knew he should have gotten up a long time ago, the final Battle against Shuyin and Veganagun, not to mention his task of saving Baralai, was waiting. Nooj may still have been waiting too, he hoped Nooj was still waiting.

_**The choice is yours There's a miracle in store**_

"Gippal!"

He heard a familiar voice that made him focus his attention forward where the source was, he could honestly say he wasn't expecting it to be her "Huh? Rikku?"

Rikku ran across the strangely composed bridge to reach him, looking as if she had just come from a few hard fight along side along with Yuna and Paine who also looked the same way.

"What happened?" Yuna worriedly knelt in front of him, he noticed she still had her guns in her hands, they _had_ just came from battle, or preparing to go in to it. Most likely both.

_**No, nothing should matter Not when love grows inside you**_

"I just got careless." Gippal reassured her, trying his best to look as if he wasn't still in pain. "I'm ok."

Paine looked over Gippal, first noticing that he was lying, second that he wasn't alone "Where's Nooj?" Seeing no nearby fiends, Paine deemed it safe to let the blade of her sword rest on the ground.

"He went ahead. You guys should too" Gippal replied, rubbing his leg lightly. "Don't worry about me, I'll be there in a second."

_**A voice of love is crying out "Don't throw love away" **_

Eventually the three girls headed down the path where Veganagun was waiting, leaving him by himself again. After a few more moments of rest he said "I should hurry up." and rose to his feet, getting his discarded weapon from the ground beside. "Well, lets get it over with…."

_**There's a miracle in store...for you**_

_**MIRACLE by Whitney Houston**_


	3. Chapter 3: Final battle

Chapter 3: Final battle

This chapter has some major spoilers, so if you haven't beat the game, you shouldn't read. Your not missing any Yaoi, so don't worry about it.

"We'll take the legs, you focus on the tail!" The words of Le Blanc calling down from a platform above in front of the machine's legs along with Uno and Sano. Gippal and Nooj took the torso, and it seemed everyone was holding their own. That left Paine, Yuna and Rikku to the tail, no problem.

Yuna lifted the silver guns with out stretched arms, aiming at the tip of the black tail laying on the floating island. She pulled the trigger rapidly, firing a spray of bullets at the Machine's ligament. The dormant tail drew back, sweeping across the ground and slamming into the three, sending them sliding backwards from impact. "You guys alright?" Yuna asked, regaining herself.

"Fine." Paine responded in her usual tone.

Rikku knelt down and picked up her twin knives that had been knocked out of her hands. "I'm ok."

Paine switched dress spheres, coming out of her warrior attire and in to the one of the dark knight, lifting up her Auron inherited dark blade. With a loud grunt she jumped into the air, coming down with her sword thrust down in front of him. On contacted with the ground it sent a shockwave of dark power across the ground and over Veganagun's up lifted tail. It countered with a ray from the very tip of the tail. First blasting Yuna directly in the chest with a scorching and electrifying pain, then sweeping over the other two.

Shaking her head to stop the ringing in her head, Rikku charged at the giant Machine, slashing it with one blade, then delivering a powerful uppercut with the other. It tried to take advantage of her close proximity, slamming down toward the ground in an attempt to smash her. But Yuna stopped it in it's tracks, hitting it with a hail of gun fire that knocked it back. Paine followed with an attack, lifting it above her head and bringing it down with a hard slash, cutting open the steel skin. "There! An opening! Rikku go!" Paine pointed out the open metal she had created.

"Alright!"

Rikku rushed the short distance at the tail for a second attack, but was halted by a sudden rush of energy that sent her tumbling backwards across the ground. The tail fired it's ray, sweeping it across Paine and Yuna next though not with as much effect. "Aw! That hurt." Rikku rubbed her head and sat up.

Yuna rushed over to help her to her feet then pull her back to a safer distance "Are you alright Rikku?"

"I could be better." Rikku dropped her knives to the ground, jumping in to the air with a board flip, and with a bright light she changed outfit from the thin thief wear to the heavily armored amethyst. With all that armor she landed a little bit more heavily then she would have before.

"Alright, let's go to work." Rikku smirked devilishly with an anxiousness to fight, aiming the large dual handled blast gun at Veganagun's tail. "Boom!" With that exclamation she fired a large, energy covered round in to the open wound, making the tail drop lifelessly to the ground and combust, throwing flames and metal scraps everywhere.

"We should see about the others." Yuna let out a relieved sigh, watching over the burning tail.

"Yeah, I wonder how there doing." Rikku looked wonderingly up in their direction, unable to see anything since her vision didn't extend through solid rock. Their only way up was a long assent up a mountain of floating islands. The three glanced at each other, then tackled the course in front of them. Yuna lead the way, jumping up the first one, and continuing through the spiral stairway of platforms.

Le Blanc growled in frustration "Come on! Get in gear!" she shouted at Uno and Sano, both were tired and weak, the didn't stand a chance.

"I ….can't" Uno almost collapsed, trying to get the words out in-between pants.

"Heyyy!" Rikku was the first to reach their level, coming out of the chain of smaller rocks. " You guys _alright_?"

"No." Sano stared a the black leg embedded with green, red, and blue orbs.

Yuna shook her head with another sigh "We'll... take over from here." She volunteered, it didn't take long for them to accept the offer.

Le Blanc looked back at the enemy they had been facing, then thought carefully about her suggestion...for about 4 seconds "Well aright, I'm going up to be with my Noojie-woojie. Take care." Le Blanc nodded and walked hastily toward the spiral of platforms, leaving Uno and Sano behind, the two quickly ran to catch up.

"Sigh They never stood a chance." Rikku moaned with a shake of her head, holding up her blast gun.

The first thing you had to admit about Veganagun ,it was fighting three (two now that he tail was gone) Different battles at the same time. Even though it seemed unstoppable, as Yuna, Nooj, and everyone else agreed on. Machines were built by man, and every machine had it's flaw because men themselves had flaws. It wasn't that good at taking on so many different fights at one time. So even though it was strong, it was built to take out one enemy, Sin, and it didn't have the programming to fight with different body parts on different enemies. To make things worse all of it's weapon systems were active ,and it made mistakes, a lot of them, sometimes fatal ones.

"Ready?" Yuna shouted.

"Ready!" Rikku and Paine called back, looking up to the mammoth enemy. Yuna wasted no time, dropping her weapons and changing in to the Gun mage Dressphere with a display of bright lights. "Let's see how tough you are..." Using her scan ability she found that it was easier just to take out the leg than to fight the spheres first, once the leg was gone, it would take the spheres with it. "Alright Gullwings! Go for the leg, forget about the other parts."

A bolt of lighting streaked down from the sky in a flash and struck Rikku, knocking her to the ground. "I don't think that will be easy!" She said, dusting herself off.

"I got you coved." Paine told her, changing from dark knight to white mange. Holding the staff erect between outstretched arms she cast Reflect on everyone.

"Thank you." Rikku gave a small, grateful wave, changing from the Amethyst to the Thief Dressphere.

Rikku dived forward, stabbing the red knives into the broad ankle of the large enemy, using her pilfer Hp ability to drain some heath from it before strifing backwards. Yuna followed up with her blue bullet ability using Mega Tonberry's Cry in the night. Hitting every enemy with an explosion of opaque dark magic.

Paine changed from white mage back to dark knight with her task done, lifting the large dark metal blade over her head, charging forward and bring it down hard on Veganagun's leg.

The spheres countered with a round of magic 3 attacks (one for each of them.) each, first casting Thundaga on all three of them and electrocuting them, then Firaga, scorching them with flames, then Wateraga, a rather creative spell that attacked them with water pressure. One by one all 9 of the attacks were reflected back to on to the spheres and the leg with double strength. And Rikku had to admit that it was pretty fun to watch. "See ya!" Rikku smiled teasingly as she charged forward, clinching the knives in her hands, she stood just short of it and slashed across the skin with one hand, delivering a jumping uppercut for the final blow.

After a small pause to make sure, Paine walked confidently over to the deactivating leg "That was easy."

Moving on to the next part of the of spiraling path, They spotted Uno and Sano resting on a platform leading up to the body and where Le blanc had gone ahead. They hurried to reach them.

Uno seemed relieved when he saw them, "Take care of boss for me." Uno said, rubbing his injured arm.

Yuna wondered for a moment what Le Blanc was thinking? "Yeah, we'll do that."

"I don't know about her some times." Sano sighed, rubbing his head in an attempt to ease a thoroughly pounding headache.

The spiral path leaded them up to the next large island. Gippal along with Nooj and Le Blanc stood against the machine, they could see Baralai from this distance, still under the control of Shuyin, manipulating Veganagun.

Seeing that they were to injured to continue fighting, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine took over this fight also.

The body stood along with the head, tusks and 2 pairs of arms. Gippal and Nooj had taken took all of them on at once, and managed to weaken it a lot, but in the end it ended up being to much for two already weakened people. Yuna, Rikku and Paine, on Nooj's advice, decided to take of the body and arms first, them moved to the head.

"Don't worry about the arms, the core is your target!" Nooj called out to them from a feet away near the edge of the platform, He and Gippal had made that mistake, if they wanted to stand a chance they couldn't.

"Alright girls, you heard him!" Particularly high in moral, Yuna encouraged her two team mates." Go for the core." Yuna repeated, changing back to the Gunner Dressphere. With out hesitation she pumped the triggers, sending a barrage of gunfire at the glowing core under Veganagun's neck.

Rikku changed in to the dark knight armor, with a plain in mind she jumping in the air and forcing her sword to the ground with a darkness attack. A wave of dark energy swept over both arms and the core.

"We can take care of this, just keep attacking!" Yuna shouted, she didn't see the core's glow grow brighter. That was until it shot out a enormous blue ray that engulfed all three of them at once, it even hit Nooj and Gippal who were farther off, it felt like they ran in to a brick wall going 100 miles an hours.

Still unwavering and in evident pain, they continued to attack relentlessly, Yuna kept firing with trigger happy, using her guns in combination with Rikku's and Paine's Dark Knight swords using the powerful Darkness attack. With there next round they cracked the hard casing covering the core. "We're almost there, don't give up!" Yuna paused from her attacking to retrieve a out a mega potion and used it on the group. But they were blind sided by another ray that swept them off their feet right afterwords.

They continued to fight, regaining themselves despite growing injuries. "Ready?" Yuna asked, aiming her weapons.

"Yeah." Rikku lifted her sword, running towards the core of Veganagun "Let's do it." After her, Paine followed with her sword low at her side, almost dragging it across the ground. Yuna covered them with more rapid firing just as Rikku and Paine attacked, both of them thrust their swords forward and smashing through the casing sounding the core.

Rikku stumbled backwards quickly "Yuna! Now!"

Yuna took her que, pulling the pin on the grenade shaped cluster bomb and throwing it with all the aim being a gunner brought. Just as she hoped it sailed into the open core followed by a shattering explosion and a rush of outward flames. "Yes!"

Even though it might have seemed that way, that wasn't the end of the battle. Veganagun started to move again. Swiftly Dropping down a level so that they were standing face to face with the head by Shuyin's command. Now that Shuyin, well Baralai, was in eye sight level, they could tell something was off.

"He's panicking, you've almost won!" Nooj yelled to the girls being the first to notice what it really was, Shuyin _was_ panicking, you can see it in his eyes, everything was so close to the edge, and he didn't know how to stop it from going over.

The head was no problem, they could finished this right here and now and be done with this mess. "Alright, this is it, let's do it!" Yuna tried her best to cheer everyone on, to encourage them a little but they were tired and hurt, moral was in short supply.

Rikku had to resist the urge to fall to the ground and pass out. "I need a nap." She complained.

"Maybe later." Paine lifted her sword again, also just as ready for this to be over with as Rikku.

"This should help." Yuna used her last mega-elixir on the group, not that she had many to start with. It helped a lot, or as well as to be expected.

With renewed strength though not renewed stamina, Rikku jumped in to the air with the large sword drawn up, using Darkness, one sweep was enough to clear off the Tusks, making less of a problem to deal with. Yuna also changed, this time in to the white mage and cast reflect on everyone. Veganagun cast Mighty Guard on it's self, making it quicker and with better defense, a typical starting round.

Paine changed Dressphere in to the Berserker, using her Crackdown ability, she charged at Veganagun giving a powerful uppercut with long claws that broke through the machines defenses.

Rikku used darkness again, sending another wave of dark energy at Veganagun. Taking the attack in stride the machine countered with a meteor spell, sending sudden a rain of burning meteor rocks on them. Just barley surviving, Yuna changed back to the gun mage, using a mega potion on the group in an attempt to help reverse that meteor spell. Rikku continued using Darkness, sending another black wave across Veganagun.

Next, Paine cast Berserk on her self, enveloping her body in an uprising of red energy. She lost her self, but in turn gained strength and speed, causing her to charge blindly at the machine and slash it across the metal face.

Eventually their attacks were enough to bring down Veganagun.

With nothing but failure, Shuyin released Baralai having no more use for him. Changing in to the singer Dressphere, Yuna tried her plan to tell him Lenne's feelings, and it almost worked, _almost_. Shuyin seemed to be in some kind of daze and saw Lenne instead of Yuna, not that it wasn't an easy mistake to make but he saw through it. Needless to say he was angry, all of his feelings burst in to rage.

This was it, the final battle against Shuyin.

"Shuyin! Stop!" Yuna pleaded with him, but he refused, charging enraged at Yuna and slashing her with his hooked sword. He continued, pushing past her roughly enough to knock her to the ground and slashing Rikku in his way to Paine, then pivoting agilely and slashing her again when he drew back to hit Rikku, Finally he hit Yuna again on his final pass before he jumped back to avoid attack.

It seemed that all of his moves were the same as Tidus's overdrives.

Rikku countered with an attack from her own sword, lifting the large dark blade above her head and slamming it down on Shying while Yuna started firing at him rapidly. After taking a few bullets he was able to get on to his feet and lift his sword in defense to easily block the rest of her attack that ceased when her clip ran out.

"You will Pay!" He yelled a blind furry, going specifically for Yuna. He slid to a stop just short of her, causing her to flinch in surprise as he jumped in to a back flip that delivered a powerful kick to her stomach. She was sent her flying in to the air by his strength. Shuyin jumped after her, clinching his sword with a ready attack when suddenly he was knocked painfully out of the air.

Even though his body was weak and near clasping, Baralai had used a drill shot with his own gun, and thankfully his aim was on point. "Yuna! Now!"

Watching Shuyin fall to the ground, Yuna took her chance and started firing while he couldn't avoid, striking with a barrage of bullets in a few well placed areas was enough to slow him down.

In the end, Yuna's plan worked, Lenne's sprit had arisen from her Dressphere and calmed Shuyin enough for him to give up and pass on through to the Farplane after a thousand years.

But the Farplane wasn't where he ended up, he found himself alone in the darkness... and with out Lenne...


	4. Chapter 4: 1000 words

Chapter 4: 1000 words

"Where am I!" Shuyin clinched his head tightly with both hands, dropping to his knees with weakness. He looked around franticly, hoping that something had changed, but just as before he found nothing but darkness. "Lenne! Lenne! LENNE!" After all of this, all he went through, after he waited so long. He was so close! She was right there in front of him, He could feel her, he held her, she held him. Despite everything that he did to prove otherwise, he needed that, he needed that _touch_, he needed that feel, he needed Lenne.

_**I know that your hiding things **_

_**Using gentle words to shelter me**_

He screamed in frustration, pounding his fist against the ground. "Damnit!" He had lost all since of time, being like this was like being in sensory deprivation. He couldn't hear anything, at times he couldn't even hear his own voice when he knew he was talking, he couldn't see his hand in front of his face and he felt nothing. He could have been wondering around for hours... He had long since lost hope, and what ever force was driving him to keep going had just dissipated/

Finally after what could have been hours, days, weeks even, Shuyin gave up, knowing that everything he was doing was pointless. He fell weakly to the ground and laid his head in his arms, just laying there silently. He didn't feel anything anymore, or maybe he was feeling a little of everything, either way it was hell. "No! Let me out of here!" Shuyin clinched his eyes shut, tears forming "Let me out! Let me out!" He pounded his fist against the ground, shouting out to no one but himself. "Let me out!...Let me out...let me out...someone..."

At least back on Spira he could inhabit a body, be with an actual person and walk among actual people. But here...

_**Your words were like a dream **_

_**But dreams could never fool me **_

_**Not that easily**_

"?.." He head a small rustling behind him, causing Shuyin to open his eyes and quickly turn his head back toward the source, this time his senses seem to flare up after what seemed like an eternity of being dormant. A soft sent of flowers surrounded him, but it was strongest right under him, his strong enough to make him feel like his nose was pressed against it... "?" His eyes widened at the sight he saw, more tears coming though this time from his vision

There was a figure, someone surrounded in a golden light that made it impossible to make out any features... "What….?" Shuyin lifted himself on to his hands and knees and turned around abruptly. It stepped back a little, "Who are you?" Shuyin seemed to find himself again, rising to his feet. There was someone...he wasn't alone, there was someone here, there was someone else here! He didn't care who it was, he just didn't want to be alone in this place.

_**I acted so distant then **_

_**Didn't say goodbye before you left**_

The figure slowly came toward him again, obviously a little skeptical. That's when Shuyin started to notice things, it _looked_ a little like him, even though it had no defining features the out like looked strangely similar.

With a few more steeps the figure stood face to face with him, Shuyin looked over it for a minute, trying to figure out what was happening...no he wasn't, he didn't care what was happening, as long as it kept happening. The golden hand slowly reached out a hand, touching his shoulder. "What?"

_**But I was listening**_

He felt a rush in his body, suddenly the darkness around him came to life, sweeping away like dust in a breeze at a dizzying pace. Endless fields of flowers, Crystal clear waters, blue skies... "The Farplane?" He was there for real this time, he was on the other side.

"…" The figure in front of him also revealed it self, it was like looking in to a mirror. "This… can't be happening…." Shuyin could see the shock on his copy's face, this person was just as surprised as he was.

_**You fight your battles far from me **_

_**Far too easily**_

"Who are you?" Shuyin asked.

The other continued to stare in disbelief, completely speechless. "Uh...Tidus…What about you."

"Shuyin." Shuyin turned away, looking at him from the corner of his eyes, obviously suspicious. This type of action was more of a reflex for him, he didn't really care what this person's name was or what he looked like, this guy saved him from that place...

Tidus extended his hand to Shuyin, who looked at him for a second, then finally gave in, shaking it. He turned away again to look at his surroundings, they seemed even realer now that he was on this side of it. "I just got here too." Tidus said, picking up on his surprise and taking it as such. Shuyin looked back at him and Tidus shook his head as if he had just remembered something contradicting what he had just said. "Well, about a week ago actually."

_**"Save your tears cause I'll come back"**_

"I was in the strange place, with the aeons." Tidus said, almost as if he didn't believe what he had been through after living it for a few years "And my father… But I ended up here, and the aeons were gone. I know I must sound strange but..." Aeons. Shuyin had used them, bringing them back and controlling them along with 100s of fiends and sending them in to the temples of Spira. Tidus was apparently connected, but it didn't matter now...

_**I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door **_

"Are you an Aeon?"

Tidus almost laughed at the question. "No way, can't you tell?"

Shuyin turned way from him again, shifting away to other things. "I didn't mean to laugh, but it _was_ kinda funny though." Tidus apologized, but Shuyin didn't seem to care. "You know, I came here from Zanarkand."

That seemed to get his attention. "Did you say Zanarkand?"

_**You steal my soul **_

_**To hide the pain, when I turn back the pages**_

Tidus nodded. "Yeah, I was taken by Sin, I ended up Spira..." This was starting to sound familiar to Shuyin. "So, how did you...you know." Tidus asked as subtle as he could, but Shuyin got the implications

"I died a thousand years ago." "

What! A 1000 years?" Tidus exclaimed with surprise "…So you were an unsent?"

"You could say that." Shuyin found it strange this guy could get so exited over small details, what did it mater, he was dead now.

_**Shouting might have been the answer **_

_**What if I cried my eyes out and begged you not to part**_

Speaking of small details..."Have you... heard of someone named, Lenne?" Shuyin looked at the ground when he asked, maybe embarrassed to ask, maybe solemn about asking.

"No, why?"

Shuyin looked at him, then became silent, that's when it finally hit him that he may never see her again. "Nothing."

Tidus could hear the disappointment in his tone, figuring that he must have really cared about this Lenne person "Nothing? Oh… is she your girlfriend?" Tidus asked playfully.

And this wasn't a matter Shuyin was at all playful on. "Mind your own business." He coldly replied, shooting a glare at Tidus.

Tidus rubbed his head with a confused shrug "Come on, don't be like that."

_**But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart **_

Despite Shuyin's best efforts, he couldn't get rid of Tidus, who was compelled to apologize for brushing on such a sensitive subject and not at all willing to let one of the first people he met in the Farplane be permanently disliking of him. Truthfully, Shuyin didn't really want to be alone, that much was made painfully clear to him after a 1000 years painfully existing in Spira and an unknown amount of time in an unknown place before reaching the Farplane.

Anybody at all would have been welcome, it was just something about Tidus... Something that shook him up inside, it was new, and his first reaction was to push it away, even if he didn't want to. Finally he gave up trying to do so altogether, it hadn't really taken long for him do so.

Tidus fell back into a sitting position down on the soft flowers composing the ground, laying back carelessly enough to send in uprising of flower petals into the wind. "So what's new in Spira?"

_**Cause a thousand words**_

This was something that Shuyin didn't want to think about. "The same thing that happened 1000 years ago..." A rush of anger started to surge through him when he spoke about it "They're still bickering over the trivial matters."

"You mean like... The Machina war?"

"Yeah, exactly like it." The very matter of it sent more anger rushing through his blood, Tidus could see the change in him. "I can't stand Spira, I waited for it to change…."

"What's with you?" Tidus stared up at the sky, wondering..."Why do you hate Spira?"

_**Call out through the ages **_

_**They'll fly to you**_

Shuyin explained to him what happened when the Machina war started. How Lenne was a talented singer and a summoner and how they called all summoners to the front line even though they were hopelessly out numbered. How he infiltrated Bevelle tried to use Veganagun to save Lenne, and Lenne tried to stop him. And every detail of how he tried to escape the Bevelle underground with her and they both ended up being killed. Shuyin harbored a particular dislike of Bevelle.

_**Even though I can't see **_

_**I know they are reaching you, suspended on silver wings **_

"Bevelle? Had a weapon under the city?"

"Yeah, they did."

Tidus was amazed at the whole story, but from what he had seen the weapon under Bevelle didn't surprise him. "What happened after that? How did you end up here?"

Shuyin, surprisingly unhesitantly, explained what happened through out the last 2 weeks. How he use the praetor of New Yevon, the revival of the aeons. And how he was finally stopped...

_**Oh a thousand words **_

_**A thousand embraces**_

Tidus sprang to his feet with evident anger, shouting "Did you say her name was Yuna?"

Shuyin didn't quite see the cause for anger just yet. "Yeah, and Rikku and Paine. So what?"

Tidus growled angrily at these words. "Yuna… the summoner that defeated Sin?"

"Yes, the same."

Tidus reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him off the ground and into the air about a foot above the earth with surprising strength. Shuyin's eyes widened with surprise being caught off guard, being pulled forward until he was only about 3 inches from his face. "Howisshe doing?Whathappenedtoher?Whereisshe!" Tidus asked in a frenzy of questions that startled Shuyin.

Shuyin grabbed at Tidus's wrist, attempting to pry him off/ "Slow down…Let go of me."

"I loved her! I have to know! What. Happened. To. Her!"

_**Will cradel you **_

_**Making all of your weary days seem far away**_

This explained why she went along with the first time, she though he was Tidus.

"YOU! YOU!" Tidus shifted his hands upward so that he was holding him by his neck with both hands, cutting off his air. "YOU HURT HER!"

Shuyin was shocked again, at first his mind didn't register what was happening to him until his lungs started to burn for air and his neck started to hurt... He finally pressed his hands against Tidus's chest and started to push him away, only able to loosen the grip that constricted him.

_**They'll hold you forever**_

"Stop-" He was able to force out, but the grip around him only tightened. Shuyin pushed him back harder, most sharply this time, taking most of the pressure off of his throat. The first thing that came to mind was... "I'm sorry…I...she-" a moment ago he wouldn't have said a word to Tidus, they would have ended up fighting. But it was something in his mind that related to what Tidus was feeling, no, everything in his mind related to what Tidus was feeling. He knew if someone hurt Lenne he would do the same thing, which made him hesitate to do so.

_**Oh a thousand words (a thousand words) **_

_**Have never been spoken (ohh yeah) **_

"I want Lenne back…I wanted Lenne back…" Finally being dropped by accident, Shuyin fell on to Tidus, who let go all together before both of them were sent to tumbling to the ground. "It was 1000 years, I waited! Do you have any idea how long that is!" Shuyin shouted. "I was so close. She made me think she was Lenne, she played with me. I didn't mean to hurt her…" Shuyin's arms wrapped tightly around Tidus, pulling himself closer and out of the range of any possible attack. All of what happened to him in those last moments had been a blur, he was so weak and tired that he couldn't see strait, even after he figured out it wasn't really Lenne and fought with Yuna he still was half conscious and barely able to tell which way was up.

He couldn't take it anymore, too much had happened to go back to the way he was before. He couldn't take this anger any more, this sadness, this loneliness...He was sick of this! He was sick of feeling that way, and just when he'd died and let his guard down, let himself actually open up to some one...he just wanted things to be like the way they were before.

_**They'll fly to you **_

_**They'll carry you home, (carry you home) **_

Tidus stepped back silently, realizing what he was doing... His mind started to debate with itself, his anger and empathy were conflicting and empathy was starting to win. After a minute of silence he didn't seem to be mad anymore, Shuyin explained what happened in such detail that he felt as if he was there. And Yuna did win, and Shuyin only wanted Lenne back... He couldn't be mad, it was like being mad with himself. He could tell Shuyin didn't want to fight him, even though the one that sent Spira in to madness, controlled the aeons and Veganagun was full capable of giving Tidus a tough one.

And Shuyin seemed so depressed about this...was he...crying?...

_**And into my arms **_

"Sorry…" Shuyin was quiet and unmoving, holding tightly to Tidus who didn't seem to being trying to pull away "I really didn't want to…I was just so...Damn, I wish you could understand what I was going through."

Tidus could see he was telling the truth, it wasn't too hard, it was just as easy as telling if he himself was lying. Tidus pack back away from Shuyin, turning his back and walking away.

Shuyin silently watched him make his way to the edge of the island of flowers they both resided on, watching him stop and put his hands behind his head... "Well?" Tidus glanced over his shoulder, "You wanna come with me or not?" Tidus's question was unexpected and once again caught Shuyin off guard, everything seemed to do that today.

'What the hell is going on?' Regardless of his generally lost sense, Shuyin nodded and went after him. He didn't want to be alone, and there was no way in hell he was going to be alone again, not if he could help it. 'Tidus...'

"Look at this place…" Tidus stared outward into the wide expanses of the Farplane, a smile appearing on his face and a forlorn look on his face. "It's huge, it seems endless. I wonder if it really is? Every time I look around I wanna go in a different direction and see what's that way…" Tidus looked downward over the edge, there were a few more island like this one below leading to a clear blue ocean of water that looked more shallow that it actually was, Tidus knew from experience.

"So, have you heard of her?" Shuyin asked, staring at Tidus's back.

Now that Tidus thought about it again... "Who Lenne? Yeah, she was singer, a good one to I think."

"Tidus eh? Hn… I think I remember you too…you were a Blitzball player. I remember hearing about you disappearing before the Machina war started, everyone thought you were me. It started to get annoying."

Tidus laughed, Shuyin barely smiled, sure it was amusing now but then... He never thought he would actually look back at the past and smile, before it only brought back bad memories, even the higher amount of good ones seemed bad.

Which raised an interesting question. "Do you blitz?" Tidus asked.

"Not really." Despite all the attention he got from looking like Tidus, he was horrible at Blitzball. Really horrible.

"Come on then I'll teach you." Tidus offered " I have a sure fire way to get you blitzing in no time, five steps. " Tidus said with a proud grin grabbing Shuyin by the hand and pulling him towards the water.

Shuyin was so surprised he nearly fell 'Damnit, what's with this guy?' "Hey! Wait!"

"Don't worry!" Tidus said, coming to the edge of the floating patch of land. "I'm the best." Tidus gave a few last words before he jumped, pulling Shuyin over with him. From above the water seemed only about a few inches deep, a foot at the most.

Shuyin drew in a quick breath and closed his eyes as they entered the ocean to reveal waters much deeper then Shuyin had expected. The waters were so clear you could see through it with, it didn't move so much you could mistake it for air, except for the wetness, that was always a dead give away that you were in some type of liquid. 'It's...so clear...I've never seen water like this.' Shuyin swam to the surface where Tidus was waiting for him, who now had a blue ball in his hands. "Where did that come from?"

"My father gave it to me, I left it here."

Tidus flashed a cocky smirk before he dove under water with a firm grip on the ball and a light splash, Shuyin didn't have time to question, he felt a sharp tug on his leg that pulled him down below the surface. "Whoa!" He found Tidus there, the same look on his face only this time hinted with more amusing looks. Shuyin shot him a look 'What the hell!'

Tidus only laughed in amusement and threw the ball at him, '!' Shuyin just barely caught it before it slammed into his chest.

_**Suspended on silver wings (on silver wings!) **_

"Finally that's over!" Gippal stretched his arms out, rubbing the sore muscles of his biceps and left leg. One by one, they all left the depths of the Farplane, Yuna, along with Rikku and Paine were the first. Nooj went to catch up afterwords, needing to talk with Paine. Before he left he made sure that Gippal and Baralai would be alright leaving last, this place was kinda creepy when you were by yourself.

Gippal had to check over Veganagun, it only seemed right since he had the most knowledge of Machina and he was going to make sure there was no way it would ever remotely work again. Baralai, although still weak from what happened, stayed behind with Gippal since there may still have been fiends around and Gippal was still injured.

_**And a thousand words (ohh) **_

Actually they preferred being alone, the fiends actually left after Shuyin was defeated, so there was nothing to worry about.

"There is no doubt in my mind that this thing is dead. We really did a number on it, I don't think it can be repaired. Not that I'd want to." Gippal stepped back from the mammoth machine, he left the core open since it didn't really matter anymore.

"Well that's good. " Baralai looked at the complex machine with a sigh of relief, he could now say that Bevelle was completely free of these types of weapons, he'd double check himself when he got back .

"So tell me, did you like it?" Gippal came from behind and wrapped his arms Baralai's neck from behind.

"What?" Baralai grabbed Gippal's arms and tried to pry them off but Gippal had a strong grip, so instead he tried to slip out. "Let go of me."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. So did you like it?" Gippal gave him a soft, teasing kiss on his jaw line.

"I was a little pre-occupied."

"Your not answering my question."

Baralai sighed, dropping his hands to his side. "Yes." He said in defeat, there was no way he could lie to Gippal when he was this close to him. He had a lot of different nervous habits that happened all at once when he lied, might as well tell the truth.

_**Call out through the ages (call through the ages!) **_

"Alright, now that we got that cleared up we can go." Gippal let go, walking past Baralai towards the exit.

Baralai stood there for a moment, a small look of confusion forming over his features. "Hey wait! Is that the reason you had me stay down here with you?"

Gippal didn't stop walking, he just threw an agreeable nod. "Uh huh."

Baralai sighed again and ran to catch up with him "I don't suppose you're the subtle type."

"You know I'm not."

They reached the end of the Farplane abyss, the whirling portal closed behind them as they exited. There was a small decent between the gate way and the land mass it sat above, one easily ascended by the two of them.

"Aw Damnit!" Gippal yelled suddenly upon his landing.

"What?"

Gippal dropped his head and pointed to the save point nestled in the field of flowers just ahead of them. The floating blue orb was cracked and no longer floating but instead down ground a short distance away from it's stance... The Celsius was waiting on the other side, but they had no way of getting to the ship now that the save point was destroyed.

_**They'll cradel you (ohh yeah)**_

Baralai lifted his hand to his forehead with frustration, he didn't have the strength for this "How did this happen?"

Gippal looked around for any sign of what could have caused this, there was nothing to be found. "Well it seems were gonna be taking the long way back." he sighed, looking towards the twisting paths that lead to the temples of Spira. But there were so many paths to take, all of them seemed to blend together in a confusing spiral. Many paths leading to one point.

"We came here from the hole in Bevelle, all we have to do is remember which way we came." Gippal sounded sure of his words.

Baralai shook his head "You make it sound easy, and what if we choose the wrong one, We don't know where we could end up."

"Wow, how very optimistic. Look don't worry about it so much, as long as we end up somewhere in Spira, we'll be fine." Gippal reassured him, randomly picking a path with his finger. "How about that one?" He asked, pointing to the one to the left of the one before of them.

Why not? Baralai couldn't pick one any better then he could. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"See, it's easy." Tidus sat down on the edge of an island closest to the ocean, shaking the water from his hair and tossing the blitz ball behind him.

Shuyin collapsed on the ground next to him, laying with his face buried in the flowers, he didn't want to move... Tidus looked back at him, "Hey Shu?...Why did you come with me?" It had only been an hour or so and Tidus had already given him a nickname.

Shuyin, who didn't seem to mind the name, didn't answer for a moment, bathing in a very awkward silence. It seemed like a longer time then had actually passed by the time he answered, his head still laying face down in the flowers. "I don't know, I just didn't want you to be mad at me."

"Sorry….Quietly Shu? If I hadn't have did what I did, would you have still followed me?"

"….Yeah, probably, Why?"

Tidus shrugged, though he knew Shuyin couldn't see that action. "I don't know, you seemed kinda annoyed."

"_I was_." Shuyin planted his hands into the ground and rolled over on to his back, his eyes drifting to the sky, "But it wasn't for the reason your thinking."

"Huh?"

"Despite what you may think I do enjoy your company." He honestly did, he had instantly dropped his guard when he saw Tidus. Maybe because they were already pushed to their limits and he had nothing left but himself.

_**Make all of the loneliest your lonely days (lonely days**_

"Really?"

"…Can I ask you a question?" Shuyin inquired.

"Sure."

"Why aren't you still mad?"

"Well…I don't know, I guess I couldn't stay mad at you…." Tidus looked down at him. "Why didn't you fight back?"

"Didn't want to." Shuyin told him plainly.

"Why, I mean I just attacked you and you didn't even try to defend yourself."

"I didn't want to fight you, you were the one who found me. I thought I was going crazy until you appeared, and you made me forget about everything, even Lenne." Shuyin had no problem being open and direct about what he thought and felt.

Finally Shuyin lifted himself off the ground, moving next to Tidus. "Wow." Tidus rubbed his head glancing over at Shuyin.

"Tell me, do you like me?" Shuyin asked casually.

"Uh, well. I don't know."

"I haven't felt this way since the first time I met Lenne. I have to know."

"Oh, Like you like _that_. I don't know, what would you do if I said no?"

"I'd say I can't make you like me."

"And what would you do if I said yes?"

Shuyin moved over Tidus, pressing his lips to Tidus's boldly, who opened welcomely. "Hm…"

Tidus pulled back after a moment. "I say yes."

Keeping his promise, Shuyin pulled Tidus back in to another kiss, wrapping his arms around him this ime.

_**They'll hold you forever.**_

_**A 1000 words sung by none other than Yuna and Lenne in FF X-2.**_

It took me a while but I finally finished this chapter, I decided to do the Yaoi in the next chapter, this one was running kinda long.

Sdi


	5. Chapter 5 Angel of mine

Chapter 5- Angel of mine

"I don't think this is the way we came…." Baralai looked around the winding maze of mixed paths, scratching his head lightly. After an unknown time of travel they were nearing the end of the path, when Baralai started to suspect something.

"You worry to much…Dose it really matter?" Gippal leaned on his shoulder before walking past, he seemed confident.

If Gippal wasn't worried about it then probably wasn't that bad, maybe Gippal was right, he was over thinking this. "Not really."

"We have to come out somewhere."

Gippal was right about that, but still Baralai still couldn't shake the feeling that something just wasn't right anymore. "….I know but… something seems a little…off."

"?" Gippal raised an eyebrow, turning back to face Baralai.

**When I first saw you I already knew **

**There was something inside of you**

"I mean, were there always this many roads?"

Gippal looked at Baralai suspiciously 'No way...he must be getting confused..', then to make sure he steadily traced each path with his finger, counting them off as he did so. "1...2...3...4...5...6...! Six?….7!" Gippal paused, taking another second to recount...Oh god he was right, there were 7 paths, he looked at all of the altered paths and new ones with disbelief. Maybe...this wasn't they way the came in after all. "What is going on? Where did all of this come from.?"

"Don't think so much, as long as we come up in Spira, We'll be fine right?"

**Something I thought that **

**I would never find Angel of mine**

! - ! - !

The wide open skies, the fresh sent of clear water and fragrant flowers, blending along with the warm body above him, the soft touch, and the pair of blue eyes looking in to his own.

**I look at you, lookin' at me **

**Now I know why they say the best things are free**

A soft spray of water fell on to Shuyin's back, one that he hadn't noticed before until he actually started paying attention to things beside Tidus. "Huh?" He lifted himself off of Tidus, looking up at water fall that seemed to rise as far as the eye could see and spilt water just near the edge of the island they resided "Funny, I didn't notice that before." With it being acknowledged he ignored it again, letting himself drop to his knees and crawl over Tidus's body.

**I'm gonna love you boy you are so fine **

**Angel of Mine **

Shuyin slipped one hand under his shirt with the other pulled on it from the outside, "You wear to many clothes."

Tidus laughed, reaching up to pull off Shuyin's shirt and having a much easier time with it then Shuyin was with his. Tossing it aside nearby, Tidus's hands moved down to his waist to remove the shorts he was wearing, pausing only to raise his arms and allow Shuyin to take off his shirt.

**How you changed my world you'll never know **

**I'm different now, you helped me grow**

Shuyin's hands ran over the tanned body under him, his mouth lowered against his chest, licking one of his nipples, softly nipping at the soft piece of flesh. "Mmm…" Tidus, which had some how during the course of all of this drifted up into Shuyin's hair, removed his hands, letting them fall on the soft ground at his side.

After a few more teasing moments he moved on, leavening a trail of kisses down his body as he crawled backwards, until he got to Tidus's still growing erection. Shuyin teased him farther, running a wet thumb over the head of his cock, but he was an impatient person and couldn't continue with this slow progression. He lifted two fingers in to his mouth, giving them a quick lick, then lowered them past his cock and pushed them in to Tidus. Tidus grunted from the swift entry "Heh, your not one...for 4 play... are you?"

**You came into my life sent from above **

**When I lost all hope you showed me love**

"Not really." Shuyin told him, slipping in two more wet fingers from his other hand more quickly then Tidus had expected it to come, lowering his mouth on to Tidus's almost painfully hard cock. Shuyin really wasn't the type of person to waist time.

**I'm checkin' for ya boy you're right on time **

**Angel of Mine**

Each finger moved together, going a little deeper each time and proceeding with an excessive gentleness as he stretched the tight muscles, he seemed to have experinces with this type of thing. Shuyin's tongue ran over the Tidus's cock, favoring taunting this area instead of a quick suck.

**Nothing means more to me than what we share **

**No one in this whole world can ever compare**

"Relax, your too tense …" Shuyin cooed, wrapping his mouth around the head of the hot erection, pulling Tidus's hips upward to push the cock fully in to his mouth and giving a light suck. Tidus jumped, his body tensing even farther... then relaxing when Shuyin began rubbing against his inner walls with a massaging motion. It actually felt better when he wasn't so tense.

**Last night the way you moved is still on my mind**

**Angel of Mine **

Tidus's eyes drifted into half lidded and his body became un moving and lose, just when he was starting to get in to it, Shuyin stopped with an idea forming in his mind.

"Huh?"

Shuyin drew the fingers from inside Tidus then planted his hands on to the ground as he crawled upward, stopping when Tidus's body was in-between his knees and un buttoned his pants enough to release his erection right in Tidus's face. With understanding Tidus lifted his head up from the pillowly ground and took Shuyin's cock in his mouth.

It seemed like he just got started when Shuyin pulled back, making his way back downward in-between Tidus's legs.

**What you mean to me you'll never know **

**Deep inside I need to show **

Shuyin gave a small inward smirk to himself as he tucked his hands under Tidus's thighs and lifted his legs on to his shoulders. Then wrapping his arms around the legs to keep Tidus in place, Shuyin held his cock with one hand, pressing himself against Tidus's entrance. "Ready?"

**You came into my life sent from above**

**(Sent from above) **

Shuyin pushed himself in to Tidus's body, feeling him shift around and moan softly. "Shu…!" The wet erection moved easily, Shuyin pushed himself in all the way, the pulled back, removing all save the head. Then thrusting in to the warm body as far as he could.

Tidus forced himself to be still, clinching the flowers rooted in the ground below him. Finding that base unsuitable to hold him He reach up to Shuyin's waist and pulled him closer, forcing Shuyin inside of him deeper. One had wandered up Shuyin's back, pulling him down.

**When I lost all hope, you showed me love (Boy you showed me love)**

Tidus stared up at the blue eyes, bringing Shuyin face to face with him and their bodies together with his own member still painfully erect between them. He felt the thrusting come from a different angle, he couldn't help but moan again. "Shu..."

**I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time (Right on Time)**

Shuyin pressed their lips together, his tongue pushing past Tidus's and roaming around the freely, "Your even cuter when you do look like that " he whispered softly, this time giving him a deeper kiss.

"Shu…."

**Angel of Mine (Angel of mine) **

Shuyin reach down in-between them, taking hold of Tidus's wet cock in a light grip and pumping the erection, getting another incoherent sound between pants from Tidus.

He felt Tidus's inner muscles tighten around him, making him arch upward lightly and moan loudly "Tidus" able to make one last jabbing thrust before he came, he quickly pulled himself out of Tidus and emptied his seed on to the ground. "Uhaa..."

**I never knew I could feel each moment**

Tidus placed his hands on Shuyin's shoulders and abruptly pushing the other man to the ground, pinning him down flat on this stomach before he could regain himself. Tidus lowered his head down next to a surprised Shuyin's ear. "My turn..."

**As if it were new**

Tidus pulled Shuyin's pants down by the rim of the legs, pulling them down to his knees before he planted his hands down beside Shuyin's shoulders to hold himself up, positioning himself over Shuyin.

**Every breath that I take, the love that we make**

Slowly, Tidus slid in, pushing himself in as far as he could then waited. But Shuyin made no objection or complaint, only pushed his hips upward against Tidus's to encourage him on farther

**I only share it with you (you, you, you,you) **

Tidus pressed his body against Shuyin's, pressing his chest against his back and softly kissing and sucking his neck as he pushed himself.

**When I first saw you I already knew **

Shuyin let out a soft groan, burying his face in the soft flowers. He was still, a drop of sweat rolling off his forehead and his breath becoming heavy, able to feel Tidus's same heavy breathing against his neck and the pounding heartbeat pounding in the other's chest. "Tidus….!"

Tidus started to thrust harder, pounding in to Shuyin with long over due tension.

**There was something inside of you **

Tidus held on to Shuyin's waist, pulling him up on his hands and knees and moving faster. He reached down and grabbed Shuyin's hand, leading him to his own hardening cock and pumping it in time with Tidus's thrust.

**Something I thought that I would never find**

Tidus pulled him Shuyin back farther, burying his cock in side the tight entrance until his hips were pressed against Shuyin. It was enough to draw another spurt of come from Shuyin's, though this time he was a little more subtle this time, but he couldn't stop his body from clinch around Tidus.

**Angel of Mine **

Tidus felt him self coming closer, "..." deciding not to try and hold it off any longer he gave his last thrust in to the tight body…… "……!."

! - ! - !

It took an hour to climb out of a whole that took only 15 seconds to fall down. Baralai was ascending the rock walls with no problem, possibly from previous skill or his own self balance and agility. Gippal wasn't fairing nearly so well, on contrary, he was having a little bit of a problem.

**You came into my life sent from above (Came into my life, yeah yeah yeah) **

Gippal was ready to collapse, reaching up and fumbling around in the dark for the next deficit or outlaying piece of rock for him to hold on to. This was harder then he thought it would be, he couldn't keep going like this. "I don't think I can go any higher!"

"Don't worry, were almost there." Baralai called back in the darkness, he was actually glad Gippal kept emphasizing his fatigue, he knew where Gippal was because of his voice and it was what kept them from getting separated.

"I don't see anything."

Baralai was about to respond when his head bumped into something as he climbed, whatever it was it felt pretty solid. "There's something in the way."

"Sigh No.."

It was some kind of rock or a barrier or something... Baralai shakily lifted one hand and pressed against the barrier, and pushed... he felt it shift a little. "It'll be hard, but I think we can move it. I'm gonna need your help through."

Gippal made his way up along side Baralai, bumping into him in the dark a few times before he got to where he wanted to be. "Alright, I'm ready." He said. holding on to the rocky wall with one hand and pushing at their entrapment with his other one. With both of their combined effort it moved jerkingly at the first sign of residence, after that initial movement it became significantly harder, almost as if it had gotten heaver.

"Come on..." Baralai grunted in a strained voice. "Just... a little bit... more!"

**When I lost all hope you showed me love (Boy You showed me love, uh huh) **

It lifted just slightly, bathing them in a blue light..., the blue light was actually some type of illumination shining through what turned out to be water with enough force to rip off what ever was blocking there path now that it was free to flow. Water started to rush out with a loud rumbling, engulfing them in a sudden down falling torrent, about to wash them away.

**I'm shakin' for ya, boy you're right on time (But boy your right on time) **

**Angel of Mine (Angel of mine, oh mine) **

Both of them held down their head as best as they could to keep from inhaling the water, demolished the bridge benighted them leaving only an endless drop to a dark abyss. It took all of Baralai's strength to reach up and take hold of to the edge now free to him, reaching past it and looking for anything to hold on to. He found something, uncaring what it was, and latched on to it, reaching down with his other hand to Gippal.

Gippal fought back the strong, opposing force of nature to reach out as far as his arm could reach, but he couldn't reach. Gippal held his head down, taking in as much of the saturated air as he could and climbing upward, he was sliding... After a step up he tried again finding it harder to fight the water this time with the fatigue and lack of air, his hand was knocked back. He could do nothing but cough, but he inhaled more water then he exhaled.

**How you changed my world you'll never know **

**I'm different now, you helped me grow **

Gippal didn't have the strength to do it, he found the one remaining arm he was holding on with getting weaker and his grip slipping...

**I look at you lookin' at me**

In the blur of rushing blue, Gippal could see his body began to glow lightly for a quick second then faded away. 'Wh...wha? What happened?' He found himself starting to get stronger. His body started to glow red again, giving him even more strength. Gippal looked up in Baralai's direction, who was trying his best to concentrate can cast another spell. 'Baralai...You can't cast spells right now, your too weak... Damn, forget about trying to help me, you can make it if you...just...'

**Now I know why they say the best things are free**

Using what little strength he regained, he reached out for Baralai's again, this time he grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled himself up.

**I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time**

This was the same temple that the Aeon Anima use to reside in, but it submerged in water, just like Macalaina temple...

Both of them tried to swim against the current, but with nothing in range to hold on to, along with flow of water opposing them and their lack of air. Both of them ended up being washed away down the hole and in to the dark abyss….

**Angel of Mine**

**Angel of mine by Monica**

Suspense, my specialty. I know this wasn't exactly my best work, but it's 5 in the morning, I just got in from out of town and I just found out my school is closed. (Thank you news!) I figured why not, Because once I go to sleep, I'm done for the day. 1/26/04, 5:17am

SDI


	6. Chapter 6: Find a way

Chapter 6: Find a way

Both Shuyin and Tidus were sleeping peacefully, and fully clothed. Shuyin was laid out on the soft grass of a new island with his hands behind his head. Tidus was laying on his side, his knees up to his chest, resting his head on Shuyin's stomach.

Well, they weren't exactly sleep anymore, both hand been awake for the last 20 minutes but with his eyes still closed and unmoving, neither had been sure if the other was still awake. Because of that they were hesitant to move from fear of waking the other, that was until... " Hey." Tidus spoke out in a low sleepy voice. "I should be getting back, wanna come?"

Shuyin was half sleep, almost drifting back as he spoke. "Come where?"

"My father….my Friend Auron, Braska… they're around here somewhere."

Braska? 'Summoner Braska? Then that must be the same Auron who held defeat sin...' "Hn.." Shuyin grunted in agreement, forcing himself to wake up completely.

! - ! - !

'''''

""""""

……………….

Hot…

Hot.

Baralai drifted on the edge of consciousness, barely aware that he was alive, or unsure of he wasn't dead. His mind was disarranged, just barley sorting out the only thing it could process at the moment, being what he felt around him. His head hurt so much that he couldn't managed to draw up a thought to himself. He really must have hit his head hard.

He felt….something soft, warm…shifting and grainy, Sand!… Something hot, directly above him, something bright past his closed eyelids…. He couldn't tell what this was….He felt something wet, pressing to his skin, it was hot, but soft and felt like fabric... It was his clothes, and they were completely wet….Last he felt a breeze, a cool, wet breeze

Finally his headache dulled down enough for him to think.

'Gippal…?.' He tried to move but nothing would respond no matter how much he prompted, nothing on his body would move in inch. It was a dream, he was sleeping, yeah, that's it!...But he felt everything around him just as if he was awake, nope not a dream. Again he tried to move, but he couldn't mange to gather the strength. 'Come on, get up…'

Baralai tried to speak, his lips moved but no sound came out, but it did managed to make him aware of how unbelievably dry his throat was. 'I can…do this…' He slowly lifted his head, only making it about in inch off the ground. He kept pushing himself farther, slowly opening his eyes to blinding light. Baralai felt his strength coming back to him, but his body pulled him back down and once again that strength was gone and he couldn't move. 'Damn...it...'

He felt something grab his arm.

"Baralai?" Two strong hands pulled him to his feet, he almost fell back down since he wasn't expecting it. But Baralai managed to balance himself with a little help from those two strong hands.

"Gippal…." The blinding light dimmed down allowing him to see a little better.

"Are you alright?" Gippal asked, slowly letting him go when he deemed he could stand on his own.

"I.. Think so." Baralai held his head down shook the sand from his hair, surveying his new surroundings. 'The desert?'

As if Gippal read his mind he said "Yup, we're in the Bikanel desert." He took a familiar look around the weaving sand and large dunes.

"But how did we get here?"

Gippal pointed to an oasis, to their left, a small lake with a few palm trees and short grass, a little bit of life in a desolate wasteland. "We must have washed up here. Really lucky...but from the Farplane?...As long as we're alive." Baralai finally gave up on it, there was no way he'd figure all of it out. Besides, there were more pressing matters. "Where do we go from here?"

Gippal placed both hands on his hips and glanced over towards the Oasis, then looked in the opposite direction. "Well there's a camp someplace around here."

Baralai lifted his head after he deemed it was free of sand. "Let's go then."

"No way." He shook his head. "It's too far, we'll never make it. " Gippal sat down, crossing his legs and resting his head in his hand.

"What do we do then?" Baralai crouched down next to him.

"Well, I guess we wait, a hover or a Shoopuf will come sooner or later. Always dose."

"Shoopuf?"

"Uh-huh… Shoopuf stop by here sometimes come for a drink."

"Interesting."

"Yeah." Gippal nodded. "You should see the things that pop up out here. When I was younger this always used to be my favorite spot to go to...I found a emerald here once."

Baralai sighed and sat down next to Baralai. "Where dose all this stuff come from?"

"I don't know," Gippal titled his head upward toward the sky, thinking for a moment, "We came here from the Farplane, so maybe that's where all this stuff is coming from?"

"Or maybe it's all buried underground." Baralai proposed, "Aren't there excavations going on around here?"

"Yeah." Gippal told him, "Maybe some of it is getting washed up."

"Hmm..." Baralai paused for a moment and coughed...no more talking. Water.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

They waited by the oasis for hours. With no sign of anything, absolutely nothing.

Baralai laid out on the ground, stretching out on the green grass by the oasis, resting his head against the trunk of a palm tree. Gippal on the other hand, was considerably hotter, he stripped himself of his shirt and decided to take a swim.

Baralai watched him emerge from the water on to shore, quickly drying off under the hot desert sun. Gippal sat next to Baralai, leaning down enough to give him a soft kiss on the lips, he started to pull back but thought better of it, pushing himself in to another kiss. Finally he climbed on top of him.

Baralai was, reluctant at first, seeing that the first time they had sex, he was under Shuyin's control. "You are so hormonal, even when we were younger..."

"It's your fault, you make me this way." Gippal said.

"Even back then?"

"Especially back then, we have a lot of time to catch up on..." Gippal paused and lifted his head, then sighed as he went to find his discarded shirt.

Before Baralai could inquired the nature of Gippal's action, a sound caught his ear, one that made him look around questingly. "Do you hear something?"

"Yeah, that." Gippal pointed to something far off, coming toward them having picked up the noise before Baralai did, and once he did he recognized it immediately. Beyond a layer of dust, sand and waving, distorted heat was a hover coming in their direction. It was moving pretty fast too, before Baralai had time to get up or Gippal to find his discarded clothing, the machine was coming to a stop nearby.

The person next to the Pilot looked familiar to Gippal, it had to be… "Nhadala?"

The slowing hover finally came to a complete stop just in front of them, and Gippal was right about what he saw. Nhadala jumped off the hover and run up to them, unable to believe who she was seeing, or more like where she was seeing them. "Gippal! Baralai! Is it really you!" She gasped, hugging Gippal happily in a tight embrace, and enthusiastically shaking Baralai's hand before he could raise it.

Gippal dusted off his shirt and returned the fabric to his body. "How you been?"

"Sorry Gippal, no time for formalities, we have a real problem on our hands. Let's go back to the base a sandstorm is moving in over this area. We came out here to check for any remaining diggers before we moved camp."

! - ! - !

By the time they arrived at the camp winds were starting to pick up, you could tell something was coming from that alone. If that didn't give a hint, the fact that everything was either being boxed or carried away whole was a dead give away. "Looks like you were ready for this." Baralai commented, it did seem like they were ready considering how quickly things were going.

"Yes, this is the third one the last two weeks." Nhadala told him, climbing out of the hover and leading them towards the only remaining tent.

"Two weeks?" Gippal seemed surprised, he was apparently too busy to ask and no one bothered to tell him...no wait, this didn't add up "Wait, three days ago when I talked to you, you never told me any thing about a sandstorm."

"Huh?" Nhadala paused for a moment, "Three days ago? You guys have been missing for two weeks."

Gippal and Baralai looked at each other, two weeks? Had they been out of it that long?

"These aren't normal sand storms, these new storms are strong enough to burry this place completely." Nhadala sounded disappointed when she said that, watching the nearby hovers taking off with the loaded equipment. "Well you came at the right time, everyone is really busy. So can you two do me a really big favor?"

"Anything, What is it?" Gippal asked.

"We've just open connections with Cactuar Nation."

"Cactuar Nation?" Gippal scratched his head, he never heard of that, oddly enough considering how well he knew this place. "Wha?"

"We just found out about it too, we need somebody to go out there, they say it's an emergency. I don't know what it is but there's a large possibility what ever their emergency may be connected to these constant sandstorms."

Gippal looked at Baralai with eyes that asked a question he understood, it went with out saying that Gippal was going, but Baralai could go back to Bevelle. He could easily get an airship, but with the sandstorms coming in. He wouldn't be able to get off this island if he didn't leave right now nor would he be able to get back if he did, Literally he had to leave now, radio communication was starting to lose reception. If reception is blocked due to weather, that's always a sure sign that air travel was a no go. Baralai sighed, "There's no way I can just leave you here by yourself if it is an emergency."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Getting through to Cactuar Nation wasn't an easy job on a hover, the winds blew sand in every direction, it was almost impossible to tell which way you were headed. But they eventually managed to make it, it was placed in-between two large sand dunes a canyon wall, possibly a cave. Besides the Pilot, Gippal and Baralai had to take along a translator, a young boy named Benzo who was the one who found out about Cactuar Nation in the first place.

It looked like a field with typical Cactus, and that was it. "This is Cactuar Nation? What's so special about it?" Gippal really didn't see why they were going through all this trouble, he was first to climb out of the hover and survey the area for himself.

"Oh, you'll see." Benzo reassured them, climbing off the hover after Baralai, then he lead them threw the field to the farthest Cactus next to the large Sand dune inclosing the valley.

"I fail to see the difference between" Baralai froze, stopping mid-sentence when saw the Cactus move, it wiggled and swayed back and forth making a strange sound.

"Whoa! It moved!" Gippal was amazed at the creature, tempted to give into his first instinct and poke it.

"Allow me to translate." Benzo said proudly before cleared his throat, then he paused for a moment to process what had been said. "My name is Maranala, I sorry if I startled you but we don't have much time. There is a Fiend under this desert, it's a powerful one that was sealed away by my ancestors. But something has awakened it, there is no doubt that it will come here first seeking revenge." Benzo stopped again, still thinking. "That's the gist of it."

'A fiend under the desert?' Baralai thought, 'But how could it survive?' "What is this fiend?"

The Cactus moved again, making more strange sounds in response. "She says she doesn't exactly know, but it's been roaming around this island lately looking for this place. Right before it comes, a sandstorm comes, that's how we know it's coming here."

"Wait, that thing is already up and moving around?" Gippal asked. "But it's buried? How is it up and moving?"

"I know what She's talking about." Benzo interjected, "I'm sure you do too if you think about it. You must have at lest seen it once when you were excavating in the desert. Right? I mean everyone who's fought it lost."

"Your talking about _that_?" The tone Gippal said that in started to make Baralai worried.

"The eastern expanses, the west, it's been spotted in all those places and they all have been hit by sand storms." Benzo said. "A sand storm is forming here, don't you see the pattern?"

Gippal nodded, but there was still very obvious not coming into place. "But that doesn't explain how it's showing up in all these places when it's buried underground, it has to be a different fiend."

"Not necessarily." Baralai declined. "One of two things is happening, one, it's already awake and made it's way to the surface. And if it's like you said then it's been looking for this place which is why it didn't kill anyone. Or two, astroprojection. If there is a fiend strong enough to cause sandstorms like this then it's very possible it's able to project it self on to the surface."

Maranala shifted around again, making those same incoherent sounds, Benzo again translated "Yes, and the only way to save this place is to awaken the Great Huu Bu. I would like to ask you a favor, could you find the ten gate keepers. Talk to their mothers, they know where they are."

"!"

A sudden earthquake shook the ground, nearly sending the startled three tumbling off their feet. Each second it grew increasingly more violent until it became impossible for something not rooted to stay upright. "What's happening?" Benzo shouted, the ground seemly being pulled from under his feet and sending him falling down into a cloud of kicked up sand.

! - ! - !

The shaking managed to tear open a hole in the middle central expanse, strongest in the epicenter, the continuous quake broke lose towering walls of rock and sand buried beneath the surface. They sheeted down into the opened hole, making it wider and wider with each break and loosening.

From the swirling whirlpool of sand draining into the earth Fiends emerged, Inhumanly large, black, snake like creatures with two fins extending from it's belly for arms or so. On the top of their heads a red, diamond shaped gem shined, and their heads overly large from a helmet like bone structure. Hundreds of them came rushing out, heading inanely towards Cactuar Nation.

! - ! - !

"Where did all these things come from!" Gippal retrieved his weapon from where it was strapped behind his back, stumbling on to his feet and able to support himself with a shaky stance.

"These are not ordinary fiends, where are they coming from?" Baralai was ready with his bladed staff, having a much easier time balancing himself. All of those fiends were coming in from the north...

"They're coming this way!" Gippal lifted the heavy weapon to aim, but found it nearly impossible to stand and hold an off setting weight like that at the same time. "Damn, there's no way we can fight those things during _this_! We?"

Marnalia obviously surprised everyone when an enormous amount of energy exploded before her in ray form, sweeping across the sand dune they were approaching from behind and destroying the front line of snake like fiends with a localized explosion and a cloud of incinerated sand.

"Amazing!" Baralai stood in awe, looking on as another white ray followed, piercing the cloud of smoke and expelling some place behind. It was a pretty amazing sight for what just looked like a regular cactus, he couldn't believe no one knew about this before, such an astonishing place about to be destroyed before anyone could learn of it. He had to help.

"Did she get them all?" Gippal looked over at Benzo, who obviously knew more about this then he did.

It would seem that way at first glance, especially since the earthquake was starting to weaken in it's intensity, but still didn't stop. "No." Benzo shook his head disappointedly but in a clear state of alarm that meant they weren't anywhere near safe. "She's barley holding them back, you have to hurry!"

Baralai looked back at the other Cactuses, fighting to keep his balance. "Yeah, we better hurry."

The first mother they talked to didn't know exactly where her daughter Lobivia was, but she knew he was still on the island.

Armed with only that vague information and with no other choice, Gippal and Baralai left hastily, no one knew how long Marnalia's strength would hold or when the scores of Fiends would end.

! - ! - !

It was a considerably longer ride to the new base camp.

"Where would a Cactuar be on this island?" Baralai couldn't think of anything, but he wasn't even from around here.

"Damnit, It could be anywhere!" Gippal knew just about as little as he did.

"Is there any other water source besides the Oasis?" Baralai asked, stopping by the save point that lay next to the largest tent, he hadn't had time to rest completely after his nearly fatal escape from the Farplane, and his pervious injuries from being inhabited by Shuyin.

"No, that's the only one on the island."

"Let's check there again, it would probably say near water."

Being their only lead and knowing Baralai generally was right when dealing these sort of things Gippal went up to the pilot, tapping him on the shoulder. "Could you make a detour?"

! - ! - !

"Well, when you said Shoopuf, you weren't kidding….." Baralai rubbed the back of his head nervously, looking at two large Shoopuf drinking at the oasis, a Hypeilo was waiting with them who was most likely the owner.

The two men climbed out of the hover, walking over to the clear waters, staring at large creatures as they made their way. Baralai was able to tear his eyes away from the unusual sight long enough to look around. But Gippal beat him two it.

"Found one."

Gippal waved him over to small pile of rocks next to the water. A Cactuar was standing there in it's shadow, in the shade between it and a Shoopuf. "Hey, your mother is really worried about you, and Cactuar Nation needs your help." Gippal said in a friendly voice. Lobivia would corporate easy enough, but not with out a little fun on her part.

Gatekeeper No. 1

Name: Lobivia

Free spirit, lover of detours,

and average in every possible way!

"My, arrogant aren't we, you don't know who your messing with. I'm the best gunner this side of Bikanel." Gippal stood with his pistol in hand, watching as Lobivia got ready in-between the two Shoopufs.

Baralai sat down a safe distance behind Gippal placing his back against a rock wall. "This should be interesting." Baralai said with amusement, almost laughing when he saw the energetic Cactuar make a strange sound, hoping back and forth in the strange Cactuar way, casting a spell it learned as a gatekeeper.

Gippal rubbed his eyes with his free hand, watching with confusion as the Cactuar switched places with the two Shoopufs with out moving an inch. "Whoa! Is something wrong with my eyes?"

"It has some... fascinating powers." Baralai looked at him, his eyes asking if he could do this.

Gippal waved his hand dismissingly "Cheap trick, no problem."

He could easily see in which of the three spots it would appear in next, the pattern was slow and predictable. Aiming for the first spot of 3, he fired a single shot, hitting the Cactuar just as it appeared. Being struck in the side it to spun around on it's leg in a highly animated manner, switching places quickly. Gippal aimed for the middle spot next, firing again, easily hitting the target a second time.

Carelessly, he aimed for the third spot with his head turned back towards Baralai to show off, firing and hitting his target. He found the Cactuar noises and the spinning grew more humorous every time he saw it, especially in concession.

By the final shot, he could hardly contain his laughter. And Lobivia, probably two injured to keep going, was finally cooperating.

"Well, 1 down 9 more to go." Baralai place his hand on Gippal's shoulder, glancing at Lobivia "This was easy enough, how hard could the next one be."


	7. Chapter 7: Gate keepers

Chapter 7: Gate keepers

"This is starting to become a serious problem, the whole Farplane is in danger." Braska was discussed the problem with Jecht and Auron, being a summoner he was in tune to these types of things.

"I haven't seen anything worth looking at." Jecht said discardingly, he failed to see what the problem was. He sat down in the soft grass, his back against a large canyon that housed a waterfall beside him.

"It's not what is happening, it's where it's happening." Auron explained to him.

"Yes, it would seem that this place is falling apart." Braska said with a sigh, this looked like it would be a problem he couldn't remotely find a solution too, not even a cause. Why would something be happening here?

"What could be causing this?" Auron pondered.

Jecht looked up with the sudden gleam and grunt of an idea, or a realization, one that made Braska and Auron turn towards him inanely. "Hold on! I just got here! This place can't fall apart now!" Jecht growled with annoyment, looking around and seeing both Auron and Braska gave silent looks to each other. "Hey, what's with the look?"

Apparently that look wasn't one in response to Jecht's comment. "Do you think…….?" Auron leaned on his sword rooted tip deep into the ground, adjusting his sunglasses. "It is possible."

Jecht scratched his head, when they did that silent communication of theirs he always was left out of the loop, he started to get confused. "Hey! What are you two talking about?" No one said anything to him, both were lost in there own thoughts. "Oh come on."

"Hey guys!"

Tidus climbed up to the small ledge next to a water fall where the three usually convened, though it was always hell to get here, Tidus turned around, on his knees with one hand to support himself as he reached down and grabbed Shuyin's hand, pulling him up. "Geez, you guys couldn't pick a better spot to hang out?"

Jecht conspicuously looked over the pair, if Tidus hadn't reached back to pull him up Jecht would have sworn he was seeing double. "Whose the new guy?"

"This is my _'Friend'_ Shuyin." Tidus told him in a mater of factly tone, then turned to Shuyin and pointed to Jecht. "Shuyin, _that guy _is my father Jecht, this is my friend Auron, and that is high summoner Braska." Tidus didn't mean to put the emphasis on friend, it just slipped in. He still managed to show a good deal of respect for Braska, even though Braska had told him thousands of times just to call him Braska.

"Nice to meet you." Braska shook his hand with his usual smile, Auron just gave a usual greeting, and Jecht gave a very Auron like one. Again Jecht noticed another look between Braska and Auron similar to the one they gave before, he was starting to it figure it out.

Tidus looked around at the three, judging by the silence that followed where a previous conversation would have ensued, something was going on. "What were you guys talking about?"

"We need to speak to you, both you." Auron said in a voice that usually meant something serious, but his voice was always pretty serous..

"Hn. If you can keep you hands of each other that long." Jecht just mumbled, folding his arms and looking away.

Tidus released his grip around the Shuyin's neck, laughing as he rubbed the back of his head. "I can't help it!"

Shuyin laughed a little too but tried to conceal it as best he could.

"My, conceded aren't we." Auron would have to be blind not to notice the resemblance, one that couldn't have just been accidental .

"Hey! It not like that!" Tidus replied in his defense.

Jecht smirked. "Sure it's not."

! - ! - !

"She says she's Toumeya's mother. Toumeya's always dreamed of seeing waters vaster than our little Oasis. And now he's finally getting his wish. Sands whiter than the desert, a gentle breeze, glistening sunlight... and more water than can be imagined. I can't wait to hear the tales he'll have to tell. That's the gist of it." Benzo translated another one of the gate keeper's mother's words. The Fiends were coming faster to Cactuar nation now, Maranala was having more trouble then ever.

"Lot's of water?" Gippal started to think, raising hand under his chin thoughtfully.

Only one thing came to Baralai's mind. "White sand, sounds like a beach to me." A beach would make sense, it made perfect sense.

They had time to think about it on the way back to base.

! - ! - !

"Hey good news! The sand storm cleared, you can leave anytime." Nhadala announced upon their arrival, they didn't know weather it was a good thing for Cactuar nation or not but one thing was clear, a sand storm didn't clear up that quickly. Which would mean that something had been causing it and decided to stop, probably to focus it's attention on other places.

"Hey Nhadala, do you know a place with a beach and lots of water?" Baralai asked, making his way to the main tent set up in a different location.

Nhadala thought briefly on, telling them the first thing that came to her mind "Sounds like an island to me, Why?"

Baralai watched the activity around him, it looked almost as if everything was normal, a very busy normal but normal none the less. Either way they looked as if they had their hands full, He and Gippal would probably be handling this on their own "We need to figure out where a Cactuar is."

Gippal couldn't figure it out everything was an island in Spira, and he didn't spend much time on beaches anyway. Baralai came up with something though. "Kilika or Besaid…" He said. "…Kilika is all forest so it must be Besaid!" Sands whiter than the desert, a gentle breeze, glistening sunlight, that was Besaid in a nut shell.

As soon as he got the words out, Gippal was arranging a ride.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Have you ever been here before?" Gippal asked, looking at the tropical settings, it was just as it was described. Waterfalls, trees, sand, ocean, everything you could picture in a tropical paradise. "

Yes, once." Baralai walked downhill across a familiar path, taking in the scenery he hadn't experienced in years. "I don't remember anything about it though." They could see Besaid Village just ahead.

They both stopped the gates of the city , looking around, there were a few people out, children were playing tag, and a few people sat around outside the temple, seemed like a typical day.

Gippal ran his hand threw his hair after a breeze ruffled it out of place.

Baralai sighed. "Looks like a nice place."

"Yeah." Gippal agreed.

"?" Both of them heard something behind them, a small look over their shoulders wielded the sight of a man walking into the village. He seemed familiar.

The man stopped and looked over the two, a smile forming on his face. "Hey? Aren't you the praetor of New Yevon and aren't you the leader of the Machine Faction?"

"Yes." Both of them responded at the same time.

The man's smile grew wider. "I'm Wakka."

It clicked for Baralai as soon as he heard the name. "Your one of Lady Yuna's Guardians right?"

"Yeah, It's an honor to meet you guys." Wakka shook his hand, obviously a bit excited about meeting the two.

"One could say the same thing."

Gippal did the same, offering a quick greeting. "Nice to meet you."

"What are two doing here?" Wakka asked, in expected question.

"Well, we're looking for a Cactuar." Gippal answered.

An expression of moderate surprise crossed his features, confusing making him draw back for a moment. "That's what you've been doing this whole time?"

Baralai reassured him of the opposite. "No, just a cause we picked up." Baralai told them they had their hands full with...other problems after Shuyin. "Have you seen one?"

Wakka thought about for a moment, rubbing his jaw line lightly "There aren't any Cactuar in Besaid……."

Both of them sighed in disappointment. "That's why it was really strange to see one on the beach."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Wakka led them two down to the beach, up near the harbor by a rock structure, a small Cactuar was sitting near the water under a palm tree. His knees drawn up in to it's arms, rocking softly. It was definitely a gate keeper, why else would a Cactuar be in Besaid? "Here it is." Wakka stopped in front of the small, green creature, folding his arms with an interested look on his face. "What are you looking for it for? Looks harmless to me." Wakka looked on as Baralai approached the small creature.

Baralai explained. "We need it to help us out at the Bikanel desert."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gatekeeper No. 2

Name: Toumeya

! - !- !

Off on a south sea

cruise? Still, he

longs for his desert

home...

! - ! - !

HP 10

Strength 3/10

Agility 3/10

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"I got this one." Baralai drew out his pistol from the holster under his shirt as the Cactuar called his friends, two dog like fiends that joined by it's side.

It cast the same gatekeeper spell as Lobivia, changing places with the two fiend rapidly with out moving an inch. But not too fast that Baralai couldn't keep up, it wasn't much harder then Lobivia, although there was a distinguished difference in speed. Baralai watching the rhythm, then firing a shot in the center position. The Cactuar was hit, spinning around on one leg before regaining his balance. This is where Baralai's strategy differed from Gippal's, He didn't wait. He kept firing, not giving the Cactuar the time to move again. Finally after nine more shots, it fell stiffly on to it's back.

After an embarrassingly quick defeat, Toumeya finally started cooperating.

Wakka rubbed the back of his head nervously "That was weird ya."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The pair quickly made their way to Bikanel, taking a hover from Base camp back to Cactuar Nation. They quickly made it across the shaking earth and cloudy sand that had be agitated over the area back to the Cactuar's mother. With the second Gate Keeper back where he was needed it was onward to find the next.

Benzo translated the next Cactuar's words.

"According to his mother, Lobeira loves getting into cramped spaces. He left with only one thing in mind: finding the most comfortable box in existence. He finally found a most splendid treasure chest in the home of a sphere hunter. How long it's been since I heard from him, I can hardly say... Oh, my careless little Lobeira. I've told you a thousand times to be careful of boxes with locks on them... That's the gist of it."

"It likes boxes? That means it could be anywhere." Gippal started thinking of locations, it was like trying to figure out a riddle in the middle of a Spira wide scavenger hunt.

"A sphere hunter huh? I don't think it's in Besaid." Baralai placed his foot back to keep himself balanced, this one really was a challenge. Now what Sphere hunters did he know?

This time Gippal beat him to it. "Leblanc's a sphere hunter, and she moved in to the Guado mansion, there is probably tons of boxes around there. It would be the best place to start."

"Your right."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Back in Guadosalam, the Guado were starting to return to the city, and things were starting to return back to normal. All except that the town was flooded with Sphere hunters, and the Farplane was still unstable, but the Guado were working on it. A place like this was idea to look first considering all of the Sphere hunters.

Gippal was surprised to see the change, he knew there were Sphere hunters everywhere but he hadn't expected this. "Look at this place, it's changed a lot."

Baralai greed "Yeah, Spira is changing." Baralai and Gippal waded through the sea of people, making their way from the entrance near the Moon flow to the Guado mansion, now the Le Blanc syndicate headquarters.

Ormi was waiting at the front door, while looking for something he happened to spot them in the process. "Gippal? Baralai? What are you two doing here? Where have you been?"

Gippal waved a passive greeting. "Is Le Blanc here?"

"No, she went to Youth League Headquarters with Nooj. Why?"

"We need to look for something."

"Like what?"

Baralai try to think of the best way to say this, but the best way was the most blunt. "A treasure chest with a Cactuar inside."

"A wha? Well, I don't know about that, but I did hear some strange sounds coming from a box the boss brought home one day."

! - ! - !

Figuring their was no harm in letting Gippal and Baralai look around, Ormi led them i to house, threw the living room and into the basement. After a short walk they came to a vault, where a chest that was purple on the top and on the edges that Ormi had identified the strange sounds to originate from the other day.

Gippal folded his arms and looked at it, "This is it?" It didn't look like a Cactuar could fit into it.

"Uh-huh." Ormi nodded, before they could doubt what he was saying, a strange sound radiated from it. Honestly, Ormi was curious to see what was inside.

Finally ready to see what was inside, Baralai knelt down and opened it up, revealing a Cactuar surrounded by purple padding, making the box even smaller than it looked from the outside. It was funny to watch the cactus pull itself from the small container that by some miracle it actually fitted into in the first place. Wow, Small. "You'd really have to like small spaces to stay in here."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gatekeeper No. 3

Name: Lobeira

! - ! - !

The comfiest treasure

chest bedding in Spira!

Now on sale!

! - ! - !

HP 12

Strength 7/10

Agility 2/10

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"You did the last one, this one is mine." Gippal announced, already with his pistol out of his holster.

"Be my guest." Baralai graciously stepped out of the way, leaning against the wall while watching Loberia push two more chest forward, getting in to the center of them. He enjoyed watching this, it was always amusing to watch.

Loberia seemed to be slower then the previous Cactuar, an easy target. Gippal fired the first shot, easily hitting the slow Loberia while it was in the first spot, struck hit it again going in to the third spot. But this time when it spun around, it fired a spray of needles at out of it's body at Gippal, most of them hit their intended, and surprised target. Which wasn't him, but instead his gun. A few got in to the clip, damaging exactly 7 bullets out of the 20 left. "What the hell?" Gippal lifted the handgun, questingly examining the area where it had been struck while he pulled some of the needles out of his hands.

He pulled out the clip, taking out the damaged bullets to toss them aside.

"Wow, it has aim." Baralai walked over to Gippal, looking at the damaged bullets laying on the vault 's floor, pulling a needle from his hand that he had missed.

Gippal pushed him away discardingly. "It's nothing, I know what to look out for next time, no problem." He aimed the gun again, easily hitting the Cactuar, expecting another counter, but luckily none came.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"How long did we take." Baralai asked, climbing on to the hover along with Gippal as soon as they left the aircraft.

Benzo climbed in behind him, leaning over his seat to respond."15 minutes at the most." Which wasn't long for a flight to Guadosalam and back.

! - ! - !

"These earth are getting worse…." Baralai held on a railing started to shake as it did when they entered the territory of Cactuar Nation, they were back.

Gippal patted him on the shoulder reassuringly as the hover came to a stop. "Then we'll just have to move faster, you worry to much."

! - ! - !

They returned Loberia, heading to the next mother.

"I am the mother of those inseparable brothers, Areq & Arroja. Areq & Arroja love being together. It seems they met some large yellow birds on a wide, open plain. Arroja is having such a good time he said he's put off seeing snow, whatever that is. That's the gist of it." Benzo translated.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gippal leaned back in his chair, sitting inside of the main tent of base camp around a small table right next to Baralai. This was easy, he was thinking about this to much. "Hmm…Wide open plane…. Sounds like the calm lands" Tilted his head back, expanding on that thought. He looked over at Baralai. "Snow, must be Mt. Gagazet. What's in between the Calm lands and Mt. Gagazet?"

Baralai stood up with a nod. "Let's go find out."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

After a short trip, they were dropped off at the end of the wide expanses of the Calm land, they could see the top of Mt. Gagazet from there.

As the airship moved away and the two had advanced to toward the foot of the mountain, they froze, looking on at the most unusual site they would probably ever see. Gippal scratched his cheek, a nervous habit of his, this definitely was awkward. "There's something you don't see everyday."

They watched as two Cactuar rode a Chocobo, the bigger one, Areq, was on his knees on the Chocobo's back holding the reins and Arroja was sitting back against the tail feathers with his knees drawn up.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gatekeepers 4 & 5

Name: Areq & Arroja

! - ! - !

Together they can

conquer anything!

(But Areq does all

the heavy lifting.)

! - ! - !

HP 16

Strength 6/10

Agility 4/10

! - ! - !

"Go ahead Baralai, your up." Gippal sat against a canyon wall, resting his hands behind his head to watch intently. "Watch it, he looks tough. The older one I mean."

Areq rounded up two more Chocobo and Arroja stood behind his brother timidly, it was cute actually. He was some what faster then normal, he wouldn't be to much of a problem, a small challenge for Baralai. "Very Funny Gippal, we'll just see about that."

He fired as soon as he saw the Cactuar in the center, but it quickly changed to a Chocobo, which he hit in the wing drawing a loud squawk from the bird. "Huh?" For the first time he missed... With a grunt and a snicker from Gippal, Baralai tried again, this time striking the Cactuar in the third spot, he continued firing until he was able to get 5 consecutive shots in before it moved again, then hit another Chocobo when it did, luckily only brushing a small feather between it's legs.

"How you doing over there Baralai?" Gippal asked tauntingly. Baralai just shot him a look that made Gippal laugh. This was starting to turn in to a small competition.

He managed to hit in the center, following his movements with the gun and easily finishing off the Cactuar

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

As soon as they arrived, Gippal asked "How long was it this time Benzo?"

Benzo was ready this time, "Exactly 10 minutes."

! - ! - !

"I am the mother of Islaya the sage. I am often called the wise Mother. Islaya embarked to follow in the footsteps of our Cactuar forebears who left the desert in ages past. Islaya, my sage son, have you found the Cactuar Stones they left so long ago? Try, not to get burned to a crisp, and take good care of yourself..." Benzo stopped again, just to make sure he'd gone over it right. "That's the gist of it."

"This is getting harder, maybe Kilika temple?" Baralai suggested, just speaking out the first thing that came to his mind..

"There aren't Cactuar stones in Kilika, the only place that has that has something like that……The Thunder planes. That's it." Gippal knew the area well, the lighting towers were still being calibrated by members of the Machine Faction.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Entering from Guadosalam, they ran through the thunder Planes, ignoring any Fiends. Checking any stones they could find. Obviously because it was the thunder plains no airship could get close, and they also lost a lot of time dodging lighting because of uncalibrated towers. They round Islaya at the very last stone.

"Hey, Islaya."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gatekeepr No. 6

Name: Islaya

! - !- !

One with cactuars of

ages past, the story

will cry for heaven's

vengeance when hit!

! - ! - !

HP 12

Strength 6/10

Agility 5/10

! - ! - !

"Ok Gippal, go for it. " Baralai stood under the safety of the lighting rod while Gippal loaded the pistol. Islaya waited by the stone they found her near, and oddly enough a bolt of lighting struck down next to the Cactuar, leaving another stone behind. "Hmm…That was...interesting. "

Gippal wasted no time, quickly aiming and on the Cactuar, but Islaya moved out of the way, quickly switching to another stone. It was quicker then the rest that came before. Gippal fired another shot, which came too slow and hit a stone instead of his target. A bolt of lighting streamed down from the sky in retaliation, causing Gippal to flinch and draw back with a startled shout. "Whoa! That almost hit me."

"If you think you can't handle it I can take over." Baralai offered, but beneath that offer was a clear tone asking him to admit defeat.

"No way." Gippal shot back, this was simple, if he got fried by lighting when he missed, he just wasn't going to miss again.

With an audible grunt he turned his gaze forward and fired at the Cactuar as soon as he caught a glimpse of it, who again turned the side and jumped back out of the way, sending a spray of needles at Gippal from rapidly flailing arms. He rolled to the side, landing on one knee and firing again, this time hitting his target. He didn't stop, taking it down before it could switch with quick shots.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

" 9 minutes." Benzo announced on there arrival. "Must be a fast ship."

! - ! - !

"I am Chiapa's mother, he says he's going to meet up with some friends. The meeting point? It's some secret place high, high, high up- somewhere he can take in town, water and the woods. That's the gist of it." Benzo translated again.

"What? How are we going to figure this one out?" Gippal sat down on the hot sand and crossed his legs and folded his arms, he felt like giving up already.

Baralai wouldn't give up that easily though, he could figure this out...as a matter of fact there was no way he could forget this place. "Woods……and town, the only place like that is Kilika. That must be it."

Gippal lifted his head, "Baralai, you're a genius." He pulled him down in to a quick kiss and ran for the hover.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

They started off in the forest since it was, well duh the woods. The next clue was water, so they headed to a spot where the woods stopped and the ocean began, the edge of the island. On the edge of that a large rock over looked it all. So they climbed up to see Chiapa, sitting with his knees drawn up, rocking peacefully, very content to stay there and watch.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gatekeeper No. 7

Name: Chiapa

! - ! - !

Flanked by fluffy

fiends, and faster

than a flying Flan!

! - ! - !

HP 9

Strength 6/10

Agility 4/10

! - ! - !

"Alright, he's all yours Baralai." Gippal stayed off to the side, watching as Chiapa was joined by two blue and gooey Flans.

Chiapa wasn't too hard, but countered, a lot. When Baralai fired the first shot, it countered as soon as it was hit. Baralai strifed to the side, making an another shot, easily hitting before it could switch. The Cactuar spun around on one leg and countered again, sending Baralai moving to the left. Chiapa shot the thorns before Baralai could even lift his weapon, this time, hitting the pistol dead on. Baralai opened the clip and emptied the ruined ammo annoyedly, reloading and quickly firing again, but hitting a by accident Flan, making it lash out. He didn't miss again, shooting Chiapa once more, but also getting hit with it's counter. Baralai quickly aimed and fired 6 more rounds, but getting hit by it's last counter that ruined the last of his ammunition. In the end, he lost.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"10 minutes." Benzo told them, picking out a stray needle that Gippal missed, making Baralai jump.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Benzo listened as another Cactus moved and talked in it's own langue, it was amazing he could distinguish one thing from the next. "I've gotten word from Erio. His message read: Two brothers, my friends, to a spring went we, I get to see snow... what rhymes with we. He may never listen to his parents, but I can't help but love my sweet little Erio."

This one was too easy to figure out, they didn't bother to address it. But Baralai did note that he found the Cactuar's words a little funny, "Cactuar's write poetry, I never knew they had so much personally."

Gippal laughed a little. "Heh, Heh, Must be hard to write when you do everything sideways."

! - !- !

! - ! -!

Of course, snow, spring, Mt. Gagazet. If you didn't figure it out, you must not be paying close enough attention.

Gippal and Baralai made their way hastily up the Mountain, taking at lest 10 minutes to do so, mostly because Baralai was faster then Gippal and had to stop for him numerous times. They found Erio out on a large landing right before the climb up the path to the hot spring.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gatekeeper No. 8

Name: Erio

! - ! - !

His brothers are his

strength. Watch out

for those counters!

! - ! - !

HP 15

Strength 8/10

Agility 4/10

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Wow, when he said Brothers, I thought he meant Cactuar." Gippal watched with eyes widened as the Cactuar lined up his 'Brothers', two Iron Giants, and being this close, he could easily notice how giant they were. "Were this things ever this big?" Gippal rubbed the back of his head nervously, how did he get paired up with them?

"No, Maybe their oversouled." Just a thought from Baralai, one that only served to make him more nervous. "Just make sure you don't miss." Baralai told him, backing away out of range in a very uncomforting manner.

Hitting one of those Fiends was the last thing he wanted to do, being hit by one of those swords would be painful, very painful. Gippal decided to have a little heavier artillery for this. Using his cannon, he fired a volley of 2 missiles out, by luck they hit Erio, or maybe by homing.

! - ! - !

! - !- !

"That was cheating." Baralai argued as they returned to the Bikanel desert Base camp.

"Hey, that Cactuar had Iron Giants, I should be able to have something big too."

"Technically that doesn't count unless the Cactuar was big, he's small."

Benzo joined them, telling them there last time. "18 minutes." his voice was solemn when he spoke, Gippal and Baralai looked at each other, that was a lot of time. Did Maranala hold out that long?

! - !- !

! - ! - !

She did, but just as with everything else just barley, she couldn't hold out that much longer, it was amazing she was holding off this long.

"I am Bartschella's mother." Benzo translated. "My daughter simply adores money. She left the desert in search of a 'man of means' - whatever that is. It turns out our 'man of means' isn't quite what you'd expect, hoho! Managed to save up quite a bundle. Turns out it's a former summoner! Don't get caught green-handed, Bartschalla!"

! - ! - !

This one was hard.

"Former summoner? Isaaru?" Gippal made a quick guess.

Baralai shook his head, leaning against the cloth of a tent while people moved around him busily. "She said it wasn't a man, and anyway, Isaaru's in Zanarkand, I don't think he has a lot of use for money."

"Hmm…" Now that he thought about it, Gippal couldn't believe it took him that long to figure it out in the first place. "I pretty sure it's not Yuna, So it must be Dona, she's in Kilika with the Youth League."

"Well let's go then."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It only took about 3 minutes at full speed to get to Kilika port, which wasn't necessarily a good thing, air sickness ensued.

Gippal looked around at the island, it was much bigger then before. It would take too long to look through everyone, "Ok, we're here, now how are we suppose to find it?"

Baralai point up on the second level of one of many decks. "Isn't that Her?"

It in fact was her, talking to a man out side of her house.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gatekeeper No. 9

Name: Bartschella

! - ! - !

Ready to step into the

line of fire... if the

price is right!

! - ! - !

HP 12

Strength 8/10

Agility 5/10

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Why am I letting you do this?" Dona stood at the top of a stairway in her home, watching the small Cactuar take it's place between two vases.

Gippal shrugged, taking a step back out of the way as Baralai carefully aimed." I don't know." he watched as the Gatekeeper cast another similar spell.

The 2 urns shifted places at dizzying pace along with a blend of green that was the Cactuar. With a small sigh, he took his first shot, knowing that Dona would kill him if hit one of her vases. And he did, but what should have broken it, did nothing but ricochet off. A small creature emerged, throwing out in Elixir. "What was that?" Baralai picked up the Elixir, handing it to Gippal questioningly.

He waited again, aiming at the middle space, pausing until it changed from an urn to Bartschella. The Cactuar twisted around on one foot, firing a spray of needles from quickly moving arms just as Baralai fired another shot. After picking the needles from himself and his gun while discarding useless ammunition, then he took aim again.

He fired at Bartschella, who only jumped to the side and countered again, Baralai avoided it with a sharp step to the side. Hitting the Cactuar and managing to get few hits before it could move, not an easy task. Another missed shot hit one of the urns, making the creature pop out again, throwing out another elixir. His last shot just barely made it, taking down another energetic Cactuar.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Only 7 minutes this time, that's pretty good." Benzo joined them again when they arrived, Climbing on to the hover after Baralai.

"How many more left?" He asked, helping Gippal up.

"Only one left."

! - ! - !

"I hate to admit, but my Frailea can be a bit of a handful. He's really a very nice boy who just wants to be around friends. But he always seems to be falling in with the wrong crowd. I'm worried he may not even be traveling at all." To check himself over Benzo went over everything that had been told to him before saying "That's the gist of it."

"So we don't know for sure if it's here or not." Gippal look around at the other 9 Cactuar, then at a cave that was blocked by a seal. "What's that? It looks like a good place for someone who isn't traveling." He asked Benzo.

"I'll askUha?" Benzo stopped when Frailea started to shake and wiggle, making strange noises incoherent to others. Benzo turned to Baralai and Gippal again, repeating what had been told to him. "She says it's a cave for rouge Cactuars who refuse to protect the desert."

"Frailea's mother said she's afraid that he might not be traveling at all. And she said he's falling in with the wrong crowd, you think he might be in there?" Baralai asked, touching the seal, which repelled him with a strong force. 'Ow...' "Maybe, I'll ask Maranala."

Benzo cross the rumbling sands, talking to Maranala.

She called all of the Gate Keeper, who made a circle in front of the gate. The started to do a strange dance.

"What are they doing?" Gippal couldn't help but find it humorous, man he loved cactuars now more then ever.

"I think there're breaking the seal." Baralai walked a little closer, watching the once repelling force disappear. "Hn. I guess we're going in."


	8. Chapter 8: Jumbo sized Cactuar!

Chapter 8: Jumbo sized Cactuar!

The cave was neatly kept and brightly lit, a place easy to get through. Brown stone bricks lined the walls, floors and ceilings, making neat paths, It wasn't too bad of a place, not exactly what they pictured.

"Ready?" Gippal looked over to Baralai,

"Yes."

"What about you?" Gippal looked down at Benzo standing beside him.

The boy nodded hastily "Uh-huh"

With little time left, they made a mad dash through the corridors, managing to avoid most fiends.

That was until they reached Two Cactuars that were determined to stand in there way.

"Hey! Move!" Gippal shouted, the only thing he got in response was a 1000 needles sprayed into his chest, he lifted his hands to block his face but only found it hurted even more when they struck his arms. "Ow! You little!" Before Gippal could even make a move against it the second Cactuar ran up to him, jumping up and kicking him in the face with more strength then a body that small should have had.

Baralai equipped his rod, seeing that they had no choice he went after one of the green creatures retreating back to a safe distance and drove one of the bladed edges in to the ground in front of it, it's ran into the staff and fell. "Persistent."

Gippal shot off a quick burst fire from his cannon, knocking the second small creature to the ground, but almost as quickly as it had fallen it jumped onto it's feet and began to leap around, jumping high enough to ram Baralai with the thick orange spikes on it's head. With a small wince Baralai knocked away with the dull side of the staff. "What's with these things!" Gippal growled in annoyance, they didn't have time for this! He pointed the barrel of his canon up in to air, firing a large steel orb in to the air that exploded right next to the two in a large flash. Which was enough to startle and drive the Cactuar away.

They watched two run off, jumping down a small ledge that lay just a head. The ledge wasn't big, about only 5 or 6 feet drop down, the ground was covered in sand making them suspect that it was covering up a deeper gap. Gippal and Baralai climbed down, since this was the only place their path could continue from.

Benzo didn't follow.

"You coming?" Gippal looking back at him, just barely noticing that he wasn't being followed anymore.

Benzo shook his head, though it wasn't really clear why he was staying behind. "Nah, just bring him back with you." They didn't need his help, they had brought back the other nine gate keepers, they could just as easily get the tenth.

! - ! - !

They walked through the sand covered passage with out any problems, finding it easy enough "Gippal, what do you think this fiend is?" Baralai finally asked after a moment of walking in silence.

"I don't know." Gippal shrugged, his fingers playing nervously with each other. "It must be big if it's causing all of these problems."

"Hmm…" Baralai nodded, his head tilting back enough for him to look at the ceiling, something he always did when he was unsure or worried about something. "If this fails... you think we can handle it?"

Gippal looked at him, he didn't seem too worried, but his voice sounded like he was. "You worry too much."

"Maybe you don't"Baralai stopped, coming to a complete haul.

Gippal immediately noticed "What's wrong?"

"Do you... hear something?" Baralai asked, he was the first to hear an increasingly growing sound, similar to rushing water... Gippal looked down at his feet, the sand was starting to rise, it was pouring out from holes in the walls along the path. "Those Cactuar! They set a trap, come on!"

Gippal and Baralai took off running, but after a few seconds the sand had risen up to their knees, they found it increasingly harder to move let alone run.

The sand was quickly rising higher meaning they had do something before they were above their heads, so thinking fast Baralai reached up and grabbed on to a protruding platform. "Come on! This way!" He climbed on to a small ledge, pausing to reach back and help Gippal, jumping from one protruding platform to the next. Then climbing up to another one higher, making another jump to a ledge, then finally to the other side of the passage.

Baralai turned back and reached out to pull in Gippal who was about to fall just short because of the heavy weapon. "Whoa!" He fell off balance as soon as he landed, falling in to Baralai's arms. A fall turned in to an embrace, maybe out of relief Gippal pulled him closer laying his head on his shoulder. "Mmmm…..I could get used to this."

Baralai looked down on him chastising. "Gippal."

Gippal gestured that he was just kidding "Alright, alright, let's go." and with a sigh, he let go, pulling himself away to move on.

It was only a few feet until their path stopped another ledge with a considerably larger gap between this side and the next one, the fall seemed hazardous to endeavor. But they didn't have to, a small Cactuar was sitting near the edge straddling it's knees and rocking softly. This one looked different from all the Cactuar in the cave, lighter with a less menacing expression, it had to be Frailea.

"Hey." Baralai knelt down behind the small Cactuar "Your mother's really worried about you, she needs your help." he said in a soft, friendly voice. That seemed to catch it's interest. the Cactuar turned around, slowly standing up.

! - ! - !

! - !- !

Gatekeeper No. 10

Name: Frailea

! - ! - !

Bad cactuars can't

put on a good face...

Hint: Open wide!

! - ! - !

HP 10

Strength 6/10

Agility 3/10

! - ! - !

Two more Cactuars joined him, apparently his 'friends.' This one would be a problem. 'Oh man, you can't even tell them apart.' "Can we switch?" Gippal asked nervously. Baralai only shook his head, reminding him that it was his turn, and offered him his own gun, which was better then nothing.

It at first glance it would have been impossible to tell them apart, but upon closer inspection the other two Cactuars were a little darker then Frailea. And of course 'Bad Cactuars couldn't put on a good face.' Frailea being a good Cactuar, had a wide mouth, the other two had a certain wicked smile. But it still wasn't easy to tell them apart. Especially when the spell got started.

"Oh great." Gippal aimed both guns carefully, looking at each Cactuar as carefully as he could before they changed places. Finally he found the right one after a few seconds of study, his eyes following as rapidly Frailea switched places and waited for it. A soon as it hit the center, Gippal fired both guns, knocking it back. But it changed before he could hit it again, making him accidentally hit one of the fake Cactuars with the second pistol. It retaliated with a spray of needles that Gippal easily avoided with a side step. By the time he regained his position he lost Frailea again, making him look around hastily for the right Cactuar. "Come on..."

"Just wait, you'll see him." Baralai called over them the side.

Gippal took his advice, focusing on the center position and watching the slot machine like pattern of Cactuars.

'Ok, that's fake, that's fake' his mind called out, then he fired both guns, hitting the right one just as it emerged in to the middle spot. This time he counted, the rhyme, one fake, one fake, fire. As soon as he hit it, he didn't give it chance to move before he shot the last bullet needed to take it down.

! - ! - !

"Wow, I guess that means you win." Baralai reclaimed his pistol, holstering it in it's usual spot. "4 to 5,even though you cheated in Gagazet."

"Really?" Gippal gave him a small kiss as he returned his own gun back into his waist band. "No one said you couldn't use more then those handguns...Great...what is it now?"... An oddly strange sound broke up their conversation, strange yet familiar, almost like... "Baralai, please don't tell me that sound was what I thought it was..."

Baralai sighed, standing side by side with Gippal "Unfortunately I think it was, I think you made them mad Gippal." With a deep breath and a wordless signal, he and Gippal slowly turned around just in time to see roughly 30 Cactuars gathered behind them, all of them were jumping around wildly. In front of them Frailea was starting to jump around too, though it wasn't clear why.

Gippal looked over at Frailea with his eyes narrowed "Wow, you really are hanging around the wrong crowd don't you?" More of them started to come from behind Frailea, surrounding... "You think he can get his friends to stop?" Gippal lifted his cannon,

"Not really." Baralai looked around as more and more of them emerged, figuring Frailea was going along with it.

The Cactuar all rushed past them, going over the ledge in a stamped, taking Frailea with them. With Gate Keeper powers flowing a bright, yellow light shined upward, and a much, _much_ larger Cactuar emerged from over the edge.

Jumbo Cactuar was created from all of the rough Cactuar mixing together, two Cactuar that didn't merge with the rest emerged from over the ledge, joining it in the fight.

"Alright! If they want to fight, we'll fight." Gippal seemed a little too anxious, more angered from all the annoyment then anxious. Baralai equipped his double bladed rod, holding it just behind him as he used his scan ability. "It shouldn't be too hard." he said, peering down in the canyon with a trailing voice after something caught his eye bellow. "Heym Frailea is down there."

Then this problem could be solved easily. "I'll handle this." Baralai volunteered himself, getting into stance "You go ahead."

Gippal nodded in agreement with no time to was, running past the giant Cactuar, just barely slipping past before diving over board.

"Your in my way, I'll have to finish this quickly." Baralai lifted the rod above his head using his glint attack, spinning it around on nimble fingers until it's form was nothing more then a distorted blur of speed. A blue light radiated outward from the blades, and cutting all of the enemies with the aura streak. With his speed and agility he was able attack again before the Cactuars could. He used the rod to attack on of the smaller ones, bringing the edge down from above his head. It jumped out of the way with a flail of his arms, firing a 1000 needles at him at close range.

Baralai stumbled back with a smile grunt, shaking off some of the thin needles. '...' His right hand started to glow with white light, from a spell he cast. Baralai clinching his fingers into a fist then charged forward fearlessly and striking the large Cactuar with a strong punch in the chest. The attack wasn't a physical one, but one on it's MP which had been greatly reduced.

The second small Cactuar kicked him in the face while he was in close range, the thorns hurt more then the kick itself did. Baralai countered with an slash from his staff while the Cactuar was still in the air, knocking it back toward the edge just short of the cliff. Close but not quite.

The larger Cactuar lifted it's foot, and before he could notice it stomped on him, sending him face down smashed into the ground hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. With a gasp of air he crawled backwards and stumbled on to his feet a few feet away when he was a safe distance. By the time he refocused he saw the two smaller Cactuars jumping back and forth in a strange manner. 'Uh?' He tried to attack one, and missed, each attack following that one failed, he couldn't hit it! "Alright, I'll try a different approach."

Baralai held the staff behind his back, letting his other hand extend outward while he crouched lightly in a sifted stance. Jumbo Cactuar jumped in to the air with a rush of upward generated wind, landing face down on top of Baralai, he easily took the blow with no time or room to avoid. Taking instead the opportunity to attack, he ran at the Jumbo Cactuar, wielding the bladed weapon like a master.

He lifted his free hand above his head in overdrive, casting a mixture of thunder and water spells. "Rain!" A thick rain came from the ceiling a torrent of electrified drops that pierced like needles, strong enough to erode through the floors. The two smaller Cactuars were defeated after a few seconds in the downpour, falling back in a sparking, wet green mass on the ground, but Jumbo Cactuar was still standing. It countered with a spray of needles much larger and more potent then regular Cactuars.

Shaking more of the spines from him as quickly as possible, Baralai reached for his holstered pistol, using drill shot. Three special bullets fired, the first two burrowing into it's thick skin first, and the then firing the needle headed bullet, sending it falling down on it's back in the large gorge. "..." With his enemy defeated, Baralai immediately ran over to edge..."Gippal? How are you doing down there?"

Gippal reached up and pulled himself to the top of the gaping hole with the Cactuar under his arm firmly. " I got it, let's go."

! - ! - !

The three of them, plus a Cactuar, emerged from the cave back into the familiar settings of Cactuar nation. The sands were blowing around wildly making visibility limited, the ground was shaking harder then ever, and the monsters were coming with stronger numbers.

The 10th Cactuar joined in with the others as soon as it saw what was happening, after a quick overview with each other, they grouped into a quick circle. All together they began doing a dance this time complete with lots of bright lights. A seal with a large Cactuar in the center appeared, unleashing an enormous tornado that pulled in tons of sand being carrying in the air or along the ground. It shot forward in to the crowd of fiends and in to the central expanse where their source lay.

! - ! - !

Gippal forced his head out from under the sand, shaking away the dust from his hair with a series of spits and coughs. Next pushing his hands to the surface to wiping away the rest of the sand from his face, at a moment like this he was glad he had a patch over one of his eyes. "Baralai! Baralai!" Gippal looked around frantically as he forced his body to the surface, the other Cactus's were half buried in sand as well, the gate keepers were just emerging from the center of an imprinted crest at the tornado's origin point where the sand was highest.

"Baralai!"

Rising to his feet, he quickly looked around for his missing friend, feeling the damage to him from the winds that just tore through the area. The rumbling stopped, and there were no remands of any fiends left, all had been carried away by the last attack.

'Where is he...!' Baralai's mind started racing, his first panicked though was that maybe Baralai had been carried away by..."Baralai!...Baralai?"

He felt a great sense of relief when he saw Baralai rise from the sand, his arms wrapped around Benzo with the boy clinched tightly to his chest. Baralai had used himself to cover Benzo, keeping the child safe, though not with out filling every possible part of his body with a thick layer of sand. "Ow, that hurted.'

Gippal rushed across the uneven ground towards him, nearly sending them both tumbling off balance when he just short of dived on to him and hugged him tightly. After all they were sent falling to the ground, it was just a little bit too much weight. "I was soooo, worried!" Gippal shouted.

Baralai coughed, shaking the sand from his hair. "It will take more then that."

"Get off me!" Benzo squeezed out between the two, looked around at the Cactuar and planted cactus , All of them seemed to be alright, except…..

"Marnela!"

Benzo ran to the Cactus, she was brown and limp, sagging heavily. The boy grabbed on to the thorny creature, shaking her, trying wake her up, to get any sign of life... It was no use, there was nothing left to awaken, nothing left to revive. She'd given more then she could to fight off those fiends, it wasn't clear how she held out that long

With a deep breath Benzo dropped to his knees, still clinching the dead plant "She used everything she had to save this place." His tone was saddened and his body was tense, as depressing as this was he wouldn't allow himself to cry, why should he? She saved Cactuar nation, and quite possibly all of them.

"Are you alright?" Baralai placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "...?"

_Beep, beep, beep..._

In a wail of sirens the watcher Machina Pikket flew to them at top speed with a great emergency. It stopped just short of Gippal's head, making him flinch and nearly fall "What's the big"

"A Large fiend is attacking the camp!" It few around in a jittery and twitchy motion, it's AI overloading with haste and panic. "They can't hold it off! Everything and everyone"

"What! We gotta stop that thing!" Gippal was the first one to run for the half buried hover, Baralai stopped him though.

"Hold on, just wait a moment!" Baralai grabbed him by the shoulder to make sure he was listening. "If what ever it is can't be stopped by the 100 people at base camp then it's foolish to just run into a fight that dangerous. I agree we can't waste any time but we should at lest make sure we're as prepared as possible."

A small amount of rational thinking left in Gippal's mind told him he was still injured from the whole ordeal that happened before. Baralai was right, he had to be prepared... "Alright."


	9. Chapter 9: Demon from the abyss

Chapter 9: Demon from the abyss

"What's going on!" Tidus backed way slowly, watching in confusion as around him fiends were appearing from out of nowhere. Pireflies was starting to come together to form these monsters, and with all the Pireflies in the Farplane a lot of fiends could be made, But why was this happening in the first place?

While backing away Tidus nearly tripped over a sleeping Shuyin who was laying on the ground behind him. "Shu! Hey Wake up! This is an emergency!" with a swift kick he awakened the sleeping Shuyin, who groaned at first from the forceful blow giving but flinching when he saw a large friend staring back down at him. It just happened to be one of the strongest fiends ever created, Omega weapon, oversouled.

Shuyin stumbled on to his feet, next to Tidus "What is that doing here?" luckily he was fully dressed, avoiding a few complications. But with no weapons it hardly mattered.

The fiend started walking toward them, and odd sound coming from it's open mouth. Tidus looked over to Shuyin nervously "Any ideas?"

If he had his powers then this wouldn't be a problem, but when he died they had greatly reduced, almost faded entirely. He didn't stand a chance. "We'll have to run for now."

A rain of burning meteors fell from the sky, crashing down in a burst of dirt and flames, igniting the grass and flowers sounding them "Sounds good to me!" Tidus grabbed Shuyin by the hand and pulled him forcefuly along as he dived backwards off the floating garden, falling a few feet to the water bellow with a splash. But even then there was no escape, fiends even lurked their.

They landed on top of what looked like the bones of a whale, with horns. It didn't seem to notice though, lucky for them... Tidus looked over at Shuyin, being the only one of them that could naturally breath underwater he was the only one that could actually speak. "I think we can get away with it seeing us."

Shuyin silently nodded in agreement, he was using what little of his powers he had left to keep himself from drowning.

Tidus pointed to a wall that rose up high above the water, a canyon that held a long waterfall sitting just ahead of them.

! - ! - !

"What's going on around here!" Tidus shouted angrily as soon as he got back on land, this place next to the waterfall was relatively safe, no fiends, _yet_.

"The Farplane is unstable." Shuyin explained, just as Braska had told them before. "The Farplane is like a separate reality, it doesn't _just_ become unstable. Something must be doing this." He spoke, looking around surveyingly as he spoke. A person's eyes were first drawn to the fiends, particularly an inexperienced person in this type of field which was just about everyone . But Shuyin knew what to look for, the logical thing to check out was what was creating the fiends... Shuyin looked at a few Pireflies streaming down in a small swarm to form a fiend not too far off, the key to that was that they had drifted down. So he looked up.

Their Shuyin saw clouds of the Pireflies across the sky, nothing unusual, but what was unusual was where they were all going. From every direction they seemed to be flowing to one point too far away for him to see clearly. Shuyin pointed it out to Tidus. "Something has to be doing this"

" I'm impressed. It took us 20 minutes to figure that out."

Tidus and Shuyin looked back toward the sound of the familiar voice that could only belong to Jecht, who was standing behind them and had gotten their without neither of them noticing. Auron and Braska were of course with him, Braska with his staff, and both Jecht and Auron had their swords.

"Where were you?" Tidus asked impatiently. "I've been looking for you guys! What the hell is going on!"

Jecht drew a sword from a strap resting behind his back, the hooked blade seemed to be made completely of water. He handed it to Tidus, who Shuyin noticed seemed familiar with the weapon . "Why is this place is crawling with fiends?..." Tidus paused to look over the sword, "Isn't this mine?"

Jecht shrugged. "How the hell should I know, I just found it."

Auron had also found another sword, which he gave to Shuyin, It's blade was shaded in different colors in a blend of red, blue, yellow, and green. "This is my sword, Thank you." Shuyin took the weapon graciously, Auron only grunted a reply.

"What do we do now?" Tidus asked. "Ask him." Jecht point over to Braska, who sighed and start explaining the situation.

Seeing that everyone was here, Braska thought it was time to figure this all out. "Something is forcing these Pireflies to become fiends, it's not natural in the Farplane. And as you can see, they are being pulled downward." Braska pointed out a spot just barely visible on the horizon where the Pireflies were flowing downward, from here it only looked like a small line on a greater picture. Even Shuyin hadn't noticed that.

"You may have noticed that the gravity has as also become stronger." Braska figured this out when his Demi spell became suddenly stronger then usual, after that he just started to feel the difference after he realized it. "The Pireflies being pulled down and the stronger gravity could only mean there is something bellow us causing this... I'm not sure what it is, but I do know it formed because of the instability of the Farplane, or possibly the other way around. And...It's a demon, that much I'm sure of." Braska could practically feel it, being a summoner he was in tuned with things that weren't alive or weren't human, it was a sixth sense he'd developed. And the usually faint sense was now burning strongly in his mind, enough to give him a headache.

Tidus still had one question, well one relative question "Why is this happening?"

"Now that's something I know." Braska spoke with a bit more confidence this time, shifting his staff around in his hands nervously. A habit he had acquired. "You and your father's presences, when you crossed over into the Farplane from a place that didn't technically exist, though I'm not sure how you got here"

"That was my fault." Shuyin suddenly spoke up, though uneasy about saying it. "When I revived the Aeons...it must have brought them back too, it's most likely why they ended up in the Farplane."

One mystery solved "Right, well when that happened a hole was created, and now that you've explained that to me." Braska indicated Shuyin. "A hole being created was the only way they could get here, a void if you will. This growing 'void' made the Farplane unstable but not this unstable. Something must have filled it, it's probably trying to gain control of the Farplane, and I'm afraid it's in the position to do so."

"But why would something want to take over the Farplane?" Tidus asked,

Auron answered him. "If it did, it could get to Spira."

"Something strong enough to do this... Guadosalam would be destroyed, and there's no telling how much more damage it could do. If we don't stop it now the fiends will be a bigger problem then it." Braska explained.

"Hn. Something with that much power could devastate Spira."

"It would be just like Sin!" Tidus realized what it would _mean_ for Spira, since no matter how strong it was it couldn't take out the whole world, not at once at lest. Which would mean that Spira's death would be a slow and painful process, they had to stop it now.

"Alright, how do we get to it?" Shuyin asked, that was the problem, there didn't seem to be a way to get to it. They didn't even know where they were trying to get to, or what they were trying to find.

Braska looked at Shuyin, he seemed to have a plan in mind, Shuyin could tell by the expression. "Shuyin, you brought back the aeons right?" Braska inquired.

"Yes."

"And Veganagun, where is it now?"

"I think it's still in the……Farplane Abyss." A sudden spark of realization came into Shuyin's eyes. "I see your plan now, we have go in from the Abyss."

Jecht looked over to Braska, "Your pretty smart."

"Thank you."

Shuyin opened up the portal effortlessly, a swirling vortex of red an yellow tearing in through thin air in a flash of discharging sparks just above the ground. Shuyin confidently walked in, Tidus, not as confidently, following.

Jecht lifted his sword, resting the dull edge on to his shoulder similarly in form to Auron. "Anybody else nervous about this whole thing?"

Braska nodded, and Auron passively agreed.

! - ! - !

"This is it?" Tidus scratched his head questioningly, the Farplane abyss was nothing more then an empty space. All that remained was one island of land that they were currently standing upon and a seemingly bottomless pit wrapped in darkness. Thousands of Pireflies were being sucked down in hoards, all being swallowed by the darkness

"No." Shuyin shook his head, "Something happened here, everything is gone."

Auron, Braska and Jecht came through the portal behind the two, looking around at what was left of the Farplane Abyss and the swirling vacuum of Pireflies.

Auron reached his hand out over the edge, feeling a strong pull downward. Gravity was definitely greater down here, it was impossible not to notice it. "So the only way down is to jump…" Auron unsheathed his sword from where it had been held by a sash on his back. Holding it outward with both hands he took one step back he jumped over.

"Auron always was direct." Braska chuckled a little, jumping in to the sea of Pireflies after him.

"More like insane.." Jecht rolled his eyes, leaped into the swirling drain of Pireflies and darkness more reluctantly then Auron and Braska had.

"Well That leaves us Shu." Tidus looked over at Shuyin, still nervous...

"Ready?"

Tidus took a deep breath, clinching his water formed sword lightly. "As ready as I'm going to get."

With out any reason to stay, Shuyin jumped over the edge this time pulling Tidus with him.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaa!"

! - ! - !

The real trouble didn't come from the fall but what happened while they were falling, it seemed like this really was an endless hole after 30 seconds in a mindless freefall. But they weren't alone in their decent in to darkness, something bright emerged from bellow them.

Some how by the light of Pireflies the 5 of them drifted relatively close to each other.

"It's Veganagun!" Shuyin immediately raised his sword, knowing something was wrong, very, very wrong.

The large Machina reassembled itself piece by piece before them, accentuated by the glowing of it's eyes, it was ready for battle. But of course it still wasn't active or online, instead it was filled with Pireflies, lots and lots of Pireflies that streamed out occasionally like sweat. The core still laid lifelessly at the machine's center

"That's Veganagun!" Tidus didn't expect it to be so big, he didn't expect it at all. What was going on around here!

It's red eyes flashed and a large seal appeared under them, a common one used in Bevele. It was almost like glass, something solid enough to stand on and hold all of that weight. It glowed a soft light blue with small symbols traced around the outside, but the most defining feature was the symbol of Yu Yevon in the center. By some force they were drawn down to it as if it had it's own gravity, though the whole structure and themselves with it were still falling into the abyss.

"Why is that here?" Tidus pointed down at the image of the Aeon controller.

"This is the Farplane, there must be some connection." Auron looked thoughtfully at the image of what had indirectly caused his death. Their were so many lose ends to this, all if it was happening so fast it was overwhelming.

"I don't know what that is but we have more pressing matters to attend to!" Shuyin said, indicating Veganagun.

"You know more about this thing then we do, what is it doing?" Jecht asked, specifying how the machine was vibrating with a dull hum.

"The Cannon! We have to stop it before it fires!" Shuyin charged forward at the machine before him with his sword hung down at his sides, raising it in an upward slash with a small jump, slicing through the orbs on the leg.

The dead core of Veganagun started to glow with a blue light and it retaliated with a huge beam that swept across the ground over everyone, almost pushing them off the Platform. The tail started to wiggle to life, sweeping over the seal and slamming toward them. Auron quickly put a stop to the attack with a strong strike from his blade, powerful enough to knock it back.

The tail swung around the front of the large body and stood erect, glowing with a strong light around the bladed tip. "Auron, move forward." Shuyin called to him from where he was still positioned next to the leg, lifting the muti-colored sword above his head, leaping upward and striking the orbs a second time. As instructed, Auron ran forward just as a thick red beam shot out of tail at him, allowing him to easily pass beneath it and avoid it.

Tidus overdrive: 1

Auron overdrive: 8

Jecht overdrive: 3

Braska overdrive: 5

Shuyin overdrive:1

Braska may have been a summoner, but he was far from weak he also had strong knowledge of black and white magic and was highly proficient in it. Raising his staff, he cast a Holy spell with the speaking of the spell's name and extraction of MP. Large white orbs started to rotate around Veganagun, pulling in rays of light from some place unknown that washed over the large form like rain, even though being only light they felt like blades.

Tidus bided his time, watching the two sets of arms towering above carefully, as expected from a long wait, the to Machina dropped to it's knees and one of the arms came crashing down on him. Using his sword, he forced it back with a quick slash just as it dawned on him, it kept pushing downward, so with no chose Tidus jumped backwards and narrowly avoided being smashed. With his sword drawn draw back at his side, Tidus thrust it forward and stabbed into the black appendage, enough to sever the arm at the wrist rending the arm useless.

This falling was becoming nauseous, enough to make one's stomach churn.

A rush of energy came from under Shuyin igniting flames from a Flare spell, forceful enough to throw him off his feet. Followed by a thick volt of Thunder crashing down from the sky attacking everyone with an electrocution, the combo was enough to draw a cry of pain from Shuyin. "Damnit...This falling is throwing me off!"

Braska was able to cast Mighty Guard on the party before the next round of attacks came from Veganagun. Reflecting the next round of spells including thunder, fire, and ice.

A Scan told Jecht Veganagun was immune to gravity, he knew how to get around that by using Demi sword. He pulled his sword back over his head then tossed the hooked blade directly at Veganagun's Pirefly filled core, on contact a powerful surge of gravity was unleashed in a shockwave of black and distorted energy, boomeranging back to it's owner. Veganagun's core started to glow a bright red in center, sending a powerful beam sweeping down over the part of the seal they resided on with a strong explosion, pushing Tidus, Jecht, Braska, and Auron them back farther towards the edge. Shuyin was still working independently on the leg so he had been out of range.

Tidus overdrive: 8

Auron overdrive: 16

Jecht overdrive: 9

Braska overdrive: 10

Shuyin overdrive:9

Shuyin pulled his sword back, taking a step back before charging fiercely at Veganagun. Striking the leg as he charged past it, stopping just short of the tail which also gained a slash, turning and attacking the second leg coming back. Shu jumped up, kicking off the hard steel of it's leg and striking and shattering all three of the orbs as he ascended . The tail jumped up from behind, glowing with a charged beam in the tip.

Auron saved Shuyin from an attack, striking the tail with his sword from the base and sending the beam off course and the tail itself falling half lifelessly to the ground almost severed from the large blade's strike.

The core started to glow with a yellow light that shine over them, an indirect attack that hit mp, a lot of Mp.

'Great...' With what little he had left, Braska used Osmoses to drain most of it back from Veganagun in streaks of white light, then countered with Black sky, sending a rain of shadow covered meteors on to Veganagun that struck every part of it's body. Jecht followed with Darkness, thrusting his sword down into the ground with a loud grunt and sending a shock wave of dark energy sweeping over the Machina just as it cast another round of spell, all of them reflected.

Auron continued with his method attack, preventing the tail from attacking before it could with his delay attack ability. After 4 attacks in the same place, he managed to slice off the tail completely. Tidus also was able to brake into the core.

"Braska, do it." Auron prompted the summoner.

"It's all yours." Jecht stepped out of the way as another round of magic reflected off of them from the Mighty Guard cast earlier back on to Veganagun. Lifting his staff, he used a stronger version of the Ultima spell.

"Final Ultima!"

A green light green shined in a small orb above his head, slowly growing in power until it exploded deafeningly in to a rush of green energy that engulfed everything. Luckily they were shielded from the fierce spell, but surprisingly after the powerful attack, Veganagun was still standing. Even though it was still weak from it's previous fight with Yuna and the others and barely put back together with damaged and half dismantled parts, it was taking a long time to defeat.

It was still damaged to say the lest, gaseous scars tore through the metal, they were everywhere on the machine's frame.

"What is it doing?" Tidus watched the shaking Machina nervously, that couldn't be a good thing.

Shuyin studied the shaking Machina, noticing it started do draw in the countless Pireflies that swirled around them. The black metal skin tented into a dull gray and A large cannon extended from it's mouth. Shuyin gasped and drew back slightly, it was really intimidating being on the other side of that weapon, especially when you knew what it can do. "It's oversouled! We have to stop it before it fires that canon!" Shuyin lifted his sword again, heavily anxious and nervous.

If that cannon fired...Tidus would be...

"There's a problem, we can't reach it." Auron pointed out the obvious set back, then he looked over to Jecht, who understood what he was thinking.

"You really think we can break through this thing?" Jecht tapped his sword against the seal as a small test, it was obviously solid.

"We'll have to." Auron turned to Tidus and Shuyin who seemed to have migrated together. "Tidus, Shuyin, take out the lower body and as much as the torso as you can. We'll have to lower Veganagun and get to the cannon one way or another."

"Shu! Is there anyway to slow that thing down?" Tidus asked.

"It's gathering MP, It uses Ether to fire the cannon. " Shuyin explained.

"I'm on it." Braska quickly started to use Osmosis to drain MP, he couldn't stop it but he could slow it down.

Tidus overdrive: 40

Auron overdrive: 70

Jecht overdrive: 60

Braska overdrive: 50

Shuyin overdrive:45

Auron and Jecht convened in the center of the seal holding them up, figure it to be the weakest point. Looking down they could see that they were _still_ falling, even though it didn't seem like it any more since the seal had expanded enough to block the wind. Auron raised his sword above his head, using defense break an attempt to weaken the seal. Jecht did the same, but using Power Break.

Shuyin took the left leg and Tidus took the right. Easily chopping through the weakened steel and forcing the body to drop down a few feet, working their way toward the torso.

"You alright Braska?" Jecht asked, seeing the seal slowly start to crack.

"Just hurry, I don't think I can last much longer." Braska's voice was starting to get strained, full wasn't the word for what he was feeling, if he kept using Osmosis at this rate he'd probably get sick and...

"What about you two?" Auron asked, not bothering to look up from what he was doing.

Could be better!" Tidus yelled, out of breath.

"The torso armor is stronger then before, but we'll manage." Shuyin was doing more work then Tidus, it was about equal if you considered the fact that all of Shuyin's attacks were Tidus's overdrives. the constant rays from the core and physical attacks from the arms only hindered the process.

"Move!" Jecht and Auron suddenly grabbed Tidus and Shuyin by either the shoulder or the arm and pulled them both out of the way just as the broke through the Torso. As confusing as it was the reason became clear when the Seal started to shatter, braking open from the bottom, letting the broken lower body and most of the torso of Veganagun drop into the hole, only kept from falling completely through by the long tusk and arms.

Now it was tricky, they could only move around the out edge of the seal since the rest had fallen through, and the edge in it self was weakened. While the core was charging, Veganagun, or what was left of it, attacked through the arms and tusks.

"It's at 30, we can make it." Shuyin told them. With out any energy left to do so, Braska stopped draining MP, time was running low.

Jecht and Auron looked at each other, silently agreeing on a plan, after knowing each other so long, they could tell these things.

Tidus overdrive: 70

Auron overdrive: 100

Jecht overdrive: 100

Braska overdrive: 70

Shuyin overdrive:75

Auron lifted the jug of sake hanging on his waist to his lips, taking a small sip from container and raising his sword. Auron discharged the liquid into a mist on to his sword before him, then he lowered it to his side and closed the small gap between himself and Veganagun's torso. With both hands he swung the large blade upward with a powerful blow, unleashing a strong wave of dark energy that centered in the core where the edge connected.

Jecht followed, extending his hooked sword above his head, it began to glow a bright red in some unknown overdrive. With a loud grunt he brought the charged weapon down on to Veganagun, leaving an imprinted red line where the blade had cut. That red line exploded in an outward rush of energy, usually good for blowing something apart but unfortunately Veganagun was still gathering energy.

At the last second, Braska extended his staff toward the machine, expending all of his Mp on a modified Mandingo spell. A red insignia radiated from under Veganagun, covering it in a blindingly bright wall of red light.

A loud, ear splitting explosion came from behind the red light, incinerating any trace of Veganagun left, including the thousands of Pireflies inside. It never failed, worth every MP.

"Hey we...did...it...what's that?" Something blue sparkled above them, falling at a high speed. not knowing exactly what it was, Tidus reached his sword out, catching it on the tip before it could fall through the large gaping hole of the seal and pass them by. It was a save point.

"What do we do with it?" Tidus asked.

"Use it." Auron said in his usual monotone.

When Tidus touched it a black smoke radiated from it, making everything blurry. The rush of wind and the pull from falling stopped, and when it all cleared, they were on the ground at the bottom of the abyss, and my what a long way down it was.

"That was….weird." Tidus looked around at the steel ground and the root of the canyon used when they first entered the Abyss all illuminated by the light of the save point and the rain of Pireflies traveling downward. Shuyin looked up, then quickly pulled the tired Braska back with a swift pull just as the remains of the seal they were standing on came down around them with a loud shatter and clang. But it didn't break.

Braska looked back at the broken seal that almost crushed him, his mind thinking briefly that he would have to learn how to make a seal that strong, and find out who _had_ made a seal that strong. "Thank you."

Shuyin nodded in response.

"Well now we know where we are, now where are we going?" Jecht looked around at the open space surrounding them under the cover of darkness. His voice with greeted with a loud roar from some distant monster.

"That way." Auron said in his usual manner, but his voice was lined with sarcastic undertones.

Another loud roar came from the same direction. But this time they had time to prepare. They would need it, with no way to escape to anyway.

! - ! - !

I found something out when I was playing X-2, when you fight Veganagun After 80 turns, Veganagun fires _that_ cannon, and you automatically get the 'bad ending.'


	10. Chapter 9 part 2: Demon from the sands

Chapter 9 part 2: Demon from the sands

A thick black smoke could be seen rising from multiple places in the camp they were quickly approaching, it bombarded them, filling every sense with itself. Baralai covered his mouth and nose with his arm, clinching his eyes tightly as the hover past through the seemingly endless smoke. "Did you see this fiend?" his voice was muffled.

The pilot only shook his head, though Baralai couldn't see the action. "No." the man coughed, almost thrown off course as he desperately sought a way out of the smog cover. After being tossed around and crashing into things blindly the hover finally emerged, ending up in the center of the ruined camp.

Baralai and Gippal climbed out of the vehicle, coughing profusely but quickly looking around the ruined camp to survey the damage. It was hard to find anyone still alive, or any structure still standing, any support from other camps would take hours, that's if they even got the message. "Oh man, look at this place." After about a minute of so of digging through rubble and trying to put out fires that wouldn't stay out, all in a hope to find or save someone alive with no results.

"Gippal, Baralai!" The two heard Nhadala's voice behind them.

Nhadala was still safe, she had been waiting for them after she sent Pikket to find them. The fiend in question was nowhere in sight, which may have been a good or bad thing. "Nhadala!" Gippal turned back to Nhadala while Baralai checked for any survivors that weren't already trying to put out the fires or evacuate. "Gippal! I didn't think you made it." Nhadala hugged him in relief, knowing that this fiend had originally been going to Cactuar nation, so maybe it intercepted them...she was just glad they had made it

Gippal was completely focused, Nhadala could hear it in his voice, he wanted to do one thing and that was to find this fiend an kill it. It'd had caused him more trouble then anything else had in a long time, he had already gone all around Spira to stop this thing, but some how it managed to do more damaged and killed more people then he ever could have expected in spite of that. "Where is this thing?"

"It's here, somewhere..." Her voice trailed off...the she flinched and moved to block her self from the unexpected when something exploded right next to them. Gippal and Nhadala stumbled backward trying their best to avoid a ran of off thrown embers, nearly falling when the sands started to shake. "What's going on!"

"Somethings coming!" Baralai, much more able to keep his balance, made his way over to the two, immediately grabbing Nhadala by the arm and pulling her away. "You have to get out of here now!" Baralai didn't know what it was, but he knew it was big, he could sense it. Sure enough something emerged from directly under them.

"What about you?" Nhadala was reluctant about leaving them alone to face what might turn out to be their death.

Gippal gave Nhadala another small push to finish what Baralai had been trying to do, getting her just clear of the way of the giant fiend rising. "Go, get out of here." Gippal told her, she did so with out hesitation this time, hoping they would be alright.

"Gippal." Baralai drew his staff from his back, standing by Gippal's side. "What the hell is that thing."

Gippal watched, his mouth hanging open slightly as the demon rose out of the sand. "I'm not sure but it's definitely a demon, just like Marnela said."

It was covered in thick brown skin, it's body was an oval shape with what seemed to be almost human in the center. That was the actual fiend Angra Mainyu. From the bottom of it, two limb like extremities branched off in to two large bodies that were only complete from the waist up. Both were similar, haunting red eyes, gray braded hair that seemed almost alive itself, and an overall creepy torso that was it's body. But the one on the left, Tawrich, had only a left arm, a large one at that. The one on the right Zarich, had only a right arm. Angra Mainyu, along with both of it's extensions, came together to form a towering figure that seemed too big to fight.

Baralai stood breathlessly with his mouth open, "Oh my god." he realized there was no time for that when the fiend started coming toward them. He started off by casting scan.

! - ! - !

ANGRA MAINYU

! - ! - !

Stats

Classification: -

HP: 333444/333444

MP: 9999/9999

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Guard

Fire:

Ice :

Lit :

Water:

Grav: Immune

Holy :

! - ! - !

KO, Petrification, Sleep,

Silence, Darkness, Poison,

Confusion, Berserk, Curse,

Eject, Reflect, Slow, Stop,

Defense Down, Magic Def. Down

! - ! - ! - !

Information:

A terrible fiend that has

awakened from slumber beneath

the desert sands. Bent on

destroying all it encounters,

it is a fiendish fiend indeed.

! - ! -!

Tawrich

! - ! - !

Stats

Classification: -

HP: 5540/5540

MP: 9999/9999

! - ! - !

Null Magic

! - ! - ! - ! - ! - !

Guard

Fire:

Ice :

Lit :

Water:

Grav: Immune

Holy :

! - ! - ! - ! - ! - !- ! - !

KO, Petrification, Sleep,

Silence, Darkness, Poison,

Confusion, Berserk, Curse,

Eject, Reflect, Slow, Stop,

Defense Down, Magic Def. Down

! - ! - ! - ! - ! - ! - ! - !

Information

An extension of Angra Mainyu.

It is responsible for physical

attacks but can also inflict

Silence, Darkness, Poison, and

Confusion. And then there's

its Bloody Breath...

! - ! - ! - !

Zarich

! - ! - ! - !

Stats

Classification: -

HP: 5540/5540

MP: 9999/9999

! - ! - ! - !

Null Physical

! - ! - ! - !

Guard

Fire: Half

Ice : Half

Lit : Half

Water: Half

Grav: Immune

Holy : Half

! - ! - ! - !

KO, Petrification, Sleep,

Silence, Darkness, Poison,

Confusion, Berserk, Curse,

Eject, Reflect, Slow, Stop,

Defense Down, Magic Def. Down

! - ! - ! - ! - !

Information

An extension of Angra Mainyu.

It is responsible for magical

attacks. In addition to elemental

magic, it can use Glimmer of

Despair to lower the party's

attributes. What a bully!

! - ! - ! - ! - ! - ! -!

Tawrich clinched his large fist, slamming it down on to Baralai with enough force to knock him to the ground and scatter any surrounding sand in an impact shockwave. He countered, with swift movements Baralai approached the large fiend, jumping lightly, kicking off Tawrich's large torso and slicing in him across the face with one swing of the bladed rod. Zarich cast Firaga on to on both of them creating a blast of flames on the two of them, having the higher magic defense Baralai easily brushed them off, Gippal took a little more damage.

With Tawrich using only physical and Zarich only using magic, Baralai's logical move was defense against the both of them, he used Mighty guard on himself and Gippal to render both of them basically useless, thanks to Baralai's high skill of magic. Angra Mainyu, in the center of the two fiends used Demi, attacking with a wave of energy, some how it surpassed reflect but thanks to shell, it did hardly anything. 'It can bypass reflect?' Baralai thought. 'I'm screwed if Zarich can too.'

Gippal raised his cannon, with a few press of a couple of buttons and a pull of the trigger, he released a stream of missiles 3 from that back. The first projectile exploded in to a thick smog concealing an intense chemical fire on to Angry Mainyu, the remaining two hit Zarich, covering it with a thick black smoke and leaving it smoldering. Baralai lift his staff above his head, spinning it around on quick fingers in the motions of his 'Glint' attack. The edges of both blades started to glow with a blue light, forming a circle that propagated outwards into a shockwave that spread onto Angry Mainyu and both of it's extensions

Tawrich slammed it's large fist in to Gippal while Zarich cast dispel on both of them at the same time. "That wasn't good was it?" Gippal drew his pistol from it's holster on his waist, firing a drill shot past Zarich and Tawrich in to the central demon controlling both of them. It delayed any up coming attack while all three rounds drilled in to it's skin, but then it burst in to shards, damaging Angry from the inside.

Zarich's eyes flickered quickly like stars, there was even an audible sound that came with it, it was using Glimmer of Despair. A large ball of a thick, red and black liquid formed over Gippal and Baralai as a result, it looked consistent, almost like dough or mud. "What the hell is that thing!" Gippal drew back a step at the sight, what ever that was it was much larger then they were. "Any way we can stop it?"

"There's no time!" Baralai lifted his arms, trying to block himself with the rod as the burgundy liquid discharged from the orb, coming down on the whole area like rain. They came down like piercing spikes, each drop burned like acid and was sticky enough not to come off easily, weakening them.

Baralai wiped away the adhesive black liquid as best he could, feeling considerably more vulnerable. "Are you alright Gippal?"

Gippal nodded, rubbing his forehead furiously to remove the burning substance. "I'm still standing."

Baralai held his staff extended outward in front of him with both hands, using osmosis to siphon Mp from Zarich. While Gippal tilted the barrel of his cannon strait up into the air and fired a flare, it's true form couldn't be seen past the bright white light it was radiating. It curved in mid air and fell right between Angra Mainyu's two extensions... Gippal figured now was the right time to warn Baralai. "Baralai! Cover your eyes!"

Baralai barely had time to comply before a blinding white flash erupted with a small explosion, bright enough to be seen for miles around. Gippal's attack finished off Tawrich and Zarich, but leaving Angra Mainyu alone.

The human like figure in the center of the demon started to move, using Perdition Flame.

The ground under them became a bright red liquid, almost as if it was melting, causing them to sink in like quick sand. "Damn, it trapped us!" Baralai tried futilely to free himself and escape, but it was no use, he was thoroughly trapped. The ground beneath him erupted like a geyser, engulfing him in an uprising a pillar of molten, strong enough to make him scream in pain "Aaaahhhhhhhaaaaaa!"

One ignition trigged another until both of them were trapped in a rush of heat that constantly repeated the geyser of lava.

Finally the attack ceased, letting Baralai fall weakly to the ground, Gippal even had to catch himself since he was feeling light headed after the attack. It was clear the tides of the battle turning, well they were never in their favor it was just getting worse. One attack had shifted them from holding off the demon to struggling to defend.

"It's too powerful." Baralai extended his staff, using osmosis to drain MP from Angra Mainyu.

"We have to do something! Or else everyone else is done for, we're the only people standing in that thing's way." Gippal tilled the cannon upward, firing his Overdrive a Mortar shot that didn't seem to hurt it at all.

Damnit, he had to think, he knew he could figure out a way to stop this monster. Baralai just hoped he did it before it killed them. "We have a better chance now that the other two parts are out of the way, maybe we can hold out." Baralai wasn't just talented in spells, he was also a very competent Alchemist. He knew how to mix potions and other healing articles to increase potency.

Taking a mega potion and an elixir, Baralai quickly mixed them in a 2:3 ratio along with a sedative to create a megalixir, which he drank half of and tossed the rest to Gippal.

Angra Mainyu cast full life on Tawrich, bring the seemingly dead monster back to life. A soon as it recovered and those haunting eyes opened to their usual wide, it clinched it's whole body tightly enough to making it tremble from tenseness.

"I hope this works..." Baralai thrust his staff into the sand deep enough for it to stand on it's own in front of him. Then he clasped his hands together and dropped his head in concentration, with an unknown magic taking effect his body began to glow in a red aura, then Gippal. Gippal hadn't been alarmed when it happened to him unexpectantly, he knew it was Baralai's strength increasing spell.

Apparently Baralai was thinking of a plan. "What is it doing?" Gippal fired another flare, sending a bright round in to the air that exploded in to a blinding flash and strong out put that almost knocked the two of them back from the force.

"Gippal, it's working." Baralai pointed out a large cut in the gray branch where Angra spread off in to Tawrich and Zarich.

Gippal looked at him with evident confusion "What's working?" Did Baralai have a plain he didn't tell him about? Hmm...that must have been it.

Baralai held his staff behind his back, concentrating as best he could while he cast a Wateraga spell on Angra, covering it an a bubble of clear, blue liquid with an unimaginable amount of water pressure. The spell didn't work as well as he had hoped

Angra only cast another Full-life to revive Zarich in return, while Tawrich, who had been trembling this whole time, opened it's mouth and blew out a moldy spray of bloody breath.

A black and green cloud fell on both of them, surrounding them with the foul smell old blood, decaying flesh and something undoubtedly horrible but unidentifiable, all if it moldy and stale to make it that much worse. Just having the sporeous cloud touch the skin inflicted poison, burning like acid, the smell was more then enough to overwhelm the senses and confuse, along with a sudden and painful blindness when it touched the eyes.

The thick and heavy cloud dissipated and Gippal frantically tried to get any remnants of it off his body and out of his clothes. He had a good resistance to confusion and blindness, but he did feel a sharp pain from the poison coursing through his body, an intense poison.

Baralai on the other hand, had considerably less defense to status ailments. He stood there holding his chest with one hand with the other over his eyes, trying to wipe away what ever had gotten in to them in an attempt to remove the blindness status. Seeing his friend's problem, immediately Gippal made his way over to him, lifting his canon to block or at lest to take the blow as large fist from Tawrich came crashing down intended for Baralai.

"Thanks." Baralai moaned gratefully with a weak voice, under the effect of silence.

"Hold on, I'll" Gippal was blindsided by a Flare spell from Angra Mainyu, he was sent flying backward, his body in flames as he crashed into the sand, the powerful spell almost completely knocked him unconscious.

Baralai reached in to his pocket and retrieved the first bottle he felt knowing that nothing could really hurt him, by luck he got a remedy. Seeing his blindness fade, the poison irradiated and his voice return, Baralai cast a Cureaga spell on Gippal.

"You ok?" Gippal asked, stumbling disorientedly over to Baralai's side raising the cannon for another shot.

Baralai nodded, holding his staff in a read position. "I'm alright, what about you?"

"Fine, more or less."

Zarich sent a round of Blizzara spells, sending a crash of ice down on their heads. Shaking the chunks of ice from his hair, Gippal raised the cannon again, charging large amounts of ether and unleashing his Storm Cannon on Angra Mainyu and it's other living appendages. A cloudy, smoke like white beam shot out of the weapon aimed directly at Angra Mainyu though wide enough to strike both Tawrich and Zarich. Baralai took the opportunity to use Mighty Guard on himself and Gippal.

With haste in effect, Baralai charged at the demon, jumping to the side as a large fist from Tawrich came at him and watching it slam down into the sand. He leapt the on top of the large hand, using it as a boost when he jumped over Tawrich's shoulder and on to Angra's body, striking the white, human like structure in the center with his staff.

Zarich's red eyes flashed in the star like manner that came with a Glimmer of Despair, creating another ball of the burgundy, sticky substance that fell a heavy rain of black, and acid like liquid.

Gippal move feverously to clean the substance off of himself, then removing it from his cannon with a few quick wipes of his sleeve. 'Damn, I can't take much more of this.' "Baralai? Are we even hurting this thing?"

Baralai was about to give him an answer but he stopped to use an Osmosis spell. "I know it doesn't seem like it now Gippal, but I have a plan."

"I already _knew_ that."

"We just have to hold onuh!Ahhhhhhhhaaaaaaa!"

The ground started to glow with red light, combusting in to a geyser of lava and a thick cloud of black smoke that suffocated the two men. More and more explosions erupted until they were tossed forward from the release of their legs and another shockwave.

"Now's a good time for that plan of yours, At this rate we're dead." Gippal lent against his cannon, catching his breath. No wonder it was able to take out the camp so easily, this thing was so strong... Gippal dropped to his knees, clinching his head tighly.

"The main demon, Angra Mainyu is the main threat right? We need to get rid of Tawrich and Zarich, then take out it's MP, Angra Mainyu will have nothing left to attack with or to revive it's extensions." Baralai explained. "It will be completely unable to do anything, that's when you come in."

"I see, but how are we suppose to do that?"

"I'll handle it, Just get those other two out of the way."

"Alright." Gippal forced himself to stand, bracing for feedback as fired 3 more gray missiles out of the back of his cannon, all three of them striking Tawrich with burst explosions. Baralai cast Hasteaga on both of them.

Baralai, being balanced in physical aspects as well as magic, knew some samurai attacks, the main one was Magicicide. He ran past Tawrich and Zarich, climbing directly on to Angra Mainyu, drawing back his arm with staff held in his other arm behind his back, and punching the human like creature in the center with a glowing fist. With out warning he was sent flying off of his target with an invisible force, landing on his feet and sliding to a stop back on the desert sands and kicking up a cloud of dust. 'I have to keep going...I hope I make it.'

Pulling the cannon upward, Gippal fired another white flare with Baralai out of the way, detonating in between Tawrich and Zarich. When the bright light cleared, both of them were limping lifelessly.

For now his assigned task was done "What now?" Gippal asked.

"Go for Angra Mainyu." Baralai easily jumped on to the monster this time with out Zarich and Tawrich as opposition, giving another blow to it's MP with Magicide. The demon tried to use a Flare spell, but it reflected off of Baralai from the mighty guard in effect back on to it self. Then Baralai jumped out the way as Gippal fired another round of 3 missiles. Each one hitting it's target.

The demon cast full life on Zarich, and Gippal quickly adjusted his focus to revived extension, hoping to get it out of the way as quickly as possible

This time using his staff, he attack Angra with Glint. It retaliated by bringing back Tawrich before continuing with another attack. "Baralai! Out of the way!" Gippal charged another Storm Cannon, hitting all three enemies.

Tawrich pulled back it's large arm and struck Gippal with a powerful punch that drove him to the ground while Zarich cast dispel on Baralai to remove the Mighty Guard. Followed by Angra with a Demi, creating a strong, oppressive gravity field that pushed Baralai to the ground, then pulled them in every direction as it dispelled. In Gippal's case it reflected needlessly since the demon was immune.

Baralai made it past Tawrich and Zarich, though not easily with another Magicicide. It was starting to work.

With haste in effect he attacked a second time, this time using Glint to eat away Mp since the attack, though less effective, didn't take any of his own Mp, before being blown away by a Flare spell. "Uhhhaaaa!"

Gently padding off the flames, Baralai used his staff to help himself to his feet, he was tired he wasn't sure he could fight anymore, and so weak... Baralai dug around in his pocket for a mega potion, knowing it wasn't much considering their max HP but it was something. "Gippal, that's all of it." He said, indicating that the behemoth they were facing was now rendered useless. Baralai still knew his job wasn't done yet though...

"Alright!"

With a new glimpse of hope, a bloody, scorched, still poisoned, and burse Gippal raised the weapon again, charging up ether. He clinched the cannon tightly using all of his strength to fight the resistance force from the shot he just unleashed. A small black ball of energy launched outward, a modified version of Cry in the night, sending Gippal sliding backwards from the feed back it had caused.

It was surprisingly slow, hovering towards it's target at a steady pace... Angra used it's own version of Absorb to take some MP from Baralai, put he took it right back with Osmosis. "Gippal, what is that?" After that bit of business was taken care of, he finally notice the black orb Gippal fired heading towards Angra Mainyu, slowly...

Gippal was to tired too respond, what ever it was, it finally slipped past Tawrich and Zarich, creating a blinding flash of dark light.

After a moment of silent, an almost deafening sound surrounded them, they couldn't even identify it... Then there was silence again as the darkness disappeared, the two extensions of the main fiend were unquestionably down and out, and shadow like marks lined Angra's body, it had apparently taken some damage.

Every attack Angra Mainyu used was spell based, with out Mp, or the appendages it had created, it was defenseless.

"Baralai……it worked." Gippal looked at the demon, which used osmosis to pull Mp from him. It was making it very clear that it wasn't going down with out a fight, not that Gippal minded, most of his attacks didn't require it anyway. "We can take this thing down right now, ready?" he looked questioningly over to Baralai, both of them seemed to be in pretty bad shape, Gippal couldn't help but muse on how pitiful he must have looked at the moment.

"Yeah." Baralai nodded, a small smirk making it's way on to his lips, "It would be a shame to come this far and lose now."

Baralai took a step back, then charged forward with a loud battle cry, jumping on the demon's drifting again, spinning his staff at his left side. In a fury he brought it down over his head he struck the Fiend with the revolving blades, all while drawing his pistol with the his free hand. And finally firing one last drill shot before he jumped backwards, performing a back flip and leaving it's range just as Gippal launched a mortar overdrive into the air.

But as previously stated, it wasn't going down with out a fight. Angra Mainyu used the MP it absorbed from Gippal to cast one final Predator's Flame. Just as the missile exploded in a rain of green flames.

A chain of explosions threatened to finish them off, but when the smoke cleared, they were still standing, so to speak. Gippal was laying face down in the sand, smoking and barely conscious, but alive. At the moment it wasn't certain if the same could be said for the troublesome demon.

"Ow….." Gippal placed his hands on the ground at his side, pushing. Everything hurt, and burned, which made him remember when he and Baralai first washed up on this island, only this time it was worse.

"Baralai?" Looking around Gippal found that he was now at the bottom of a large, very black crater. Angry Mainyu was nowhere insight.

Standing now seemed to be more painful then the actual battle, when he finally emerged he found Baralai laying in the sand, staring strait up, panting heavily.

"Are you ok?"

"Not really." He lifted one hand and wiped the sand from his face and hair, for the moment wishing that he had thought to pull the head band he wore over his eyes. Gippal took his hand and helped him up, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and give him a celebratory kiss. "But I'll mange."

"Hey! Are you two alright!" Nhadala ran over to them from some place that lay behind, she stopped to watch them for a moment. "Do I need to leave you two alone?"

After a few moments, Gippal finally let go of Baralai, happy to be alive even if it was just barely. He had to fight the urge to pass out...passing out, that sound so tempting.

"I don't know where you guys went before." Nhadala paused for a moment to glance back at the camp, which they had been working to extinguish of flames and save who they could during the battle. "But I'm glad you came back when you did. Things could have been a lot worse."

Gippal looked silently at the base, all of those dead, and the many injured, he didn't understand how they could she could be so...cheerful. "Hn….It's just like home." The memory of the city became very fresh in his mind at the moment. Baralai could see it on his face, making him feel guilty, Bevelle was partly…..completely responsible for what happened.

"It is a little…." Nhadala agreed, watching everyone else help the wounded. "But don't just stand there brooding over the past."

Two hovers road past them, putting a familiar sent in the air.

"Hey! Something smells good!" Gippal nearly shouted, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since who knows when, god he was hungry.

"Is that food?" Baralai looked around for the source, until finally his eyes settled on to the stalled vehicles laying right in front of what used to be a base.

"Yup, we whipped it up while you where fighting." Nhadala told them proudly, "As long as we're still working, we're going to get hungry. Being hungry is proof that we're alive. Well…..I guess you two don't want any….." She turned away sarcastically.

"Your kidding right!" Gippal ran head first toward the base and the source of that smell, a lot faster then he though he could have in his condition. It was amazing what the right motivation would do for you.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Baralai ran after him, trying to catch up. For once, Gippal was faster then he was.

! - ! - !


	11. Chapter 10: Demon from the abyss: part 2

Chapter 10: Demon from the abyss: part 2

"I don't like this, we can't fight it if we can't see it." Tidus said, the Save point was their only light right now, the rest was an endless darkness he was apprehensive about entering.

Jecht, as well as everyone, paused to listen to another loud roar in the distance. "You say it like we have a choice."

"It's getting impatient." Auron tried to determine the direction of the sound now closer then when it was previously heard, again coming from all sides making it incomprehensible .

"It sounds mad, I guess that's not go for us." Shuyin held his sword up with a steady gaze upward. No on else seemed to be able to see the Pireflies anymore except for him, making him wonder the nature of this darkness, and he noticed when the Pireflies reached the ground they were then pulled in another direction.

Damn, why did his powers have to be gone?

"So which way do we go?" Jecht shifted his eyes around nervously now, hearing another roar even closer.

"I'm sure it's that way" Shuyin pointed in the direction of the Pireflies only he could see, if they were being pulled that way and they'd been following them all this time, then this would be the next logical place to go. He explained what he saw to the others.

"Shu, you're a genius." Tidus leaned kissed him, and Shuyin kissed back.

"Hey! You could at lest wait until till later. (If there is a later)." Jecht came between them and pulled them apart.

"I can't help it!" Tidus dropped his head and sighed.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

They followed the stream of concealed Pireflies, closer to the roaring by the light of a few things, first by a fire spell and then by Shuyin with some type of power meant for an attack.

The snarls sounded mean, violent and ferocious, beast like. That's why they were so confused when they got to the source.

"What…is this?" Braska's eye brows furrowed in confusion, staring down at a dimly lit blue stone box about as high as he waist and just as wide. The font had inscriptions similar to that of the Rosetta stone, the text was just as unreadable, down the center was a small crack and small bends along the sides defining doors, apparently the box opened. All of the Pireflies where being drawn in to the small crevasse of the box.

"Is this it?" Tidus looked back at the summoner, his mind notioning that maybe Braska's theory had been wrong.

Braska was inevitably sure, he could feel it, and the fact that millions of Pireflies were being pulled into it when it didn't have room for them only confirmed his first thoughts. "Don't turn you back on it, that is most definitely the demon."

Tidus stepped back from the box, though still skeptical he took Braska's advice. "?"

Slowly but surely it started to reveal itself.

Through the side walls, four horn like features started to protrude like ghost with out ever breaking through the stone, it was happening on both sides. Red near the top, the same color as the stone on the bottom, and a yellow tip. Just barely they could also see a black haze surrounding it like an aura, that was the reason for this darkness and why they couldn't see anything before, it was causing it. Though Shuyin was puzzled about how something could generate darkness.

The horns moved and shifted around with light twitches as if the walls weren't even there, something was wrong.

"That looks familiar….." Tidus recognized it from place, not the box, but whatever was inside that the horns belonged too. Auron got the same feeling, but neither of them more so then Jecht.

"Moment of truth, it's opening." Jecht lifted his sword, a bit more nervous when he heard the beast like sound...

A black light that could be seen shining through as the box opened.

Braska gasped and stepped back with surprise... "It's….Yu Yevon!"

It was the possessor of Aeons inside the doors, the familiar black aura surrounding the same symbol still in every temple in Spira glowing in light purple. A clear liquid also filled the box, one that didn't spill as if it was a gel. That liquid settled, blocking out the black light and Yu Yevon forming in to a mirror.

This wasn't right, something was off. "No, This can't be right….If it's Yu Yevon, why dose it feel like a demon?" Braska was still confused at something that was black and white to every one else, he knew that Yu Yevon was neither good nor evil, so where was the demon vibe coming from?

"It's the box, the Epitaph. It's a demon." Shuyin told him, but there were still so many questions. What was the roaring? Why was Yu Yevon inside a demon, What where the Pireflies being used for? And how was it possible for Yu Yevon to be in the Far Plain in the first place?

The mirror reflected nothing at first but darkness, but then the box slowly turn towards Shuyin with a scraping sound, reflecting his image. He immediately started to feel strange, everything was spinning around him in a blur, he was dizzy and his body hurt.

"Shu? What's wrong?" Tidus got no answer, Shuyin couldn't hear him.

The Epitaph closed it's doors and allowed the liquid to pour out of the crack and take shape as an exact copy of Shuyin. The real one the other hand was standing there with a dazed look on his face, completely immobile and looking like zombie. Quite literately, he was under the zombie effect.

"Shu? That's wrong with you?" Tidus held on to Shuyin's shoulders, shake him with increasing intensity, but he didn't move, or talk, or blink even.

"It's no use, I presume we'll have to beat that copy." Braska told him.

Yu Yevon had no intention of fighting, it was planning to use Shuyin's power's that it had mirrored, and that's exactly what it did. The copy drew in the Pireflies and created another Veganagun, but it was the oversouled Veganagun with it's cannon ready to fire.

"No way! Not again!" Tidus shouted, his voice rising with a mixture of fear and annoyment, how many times would they have to fight this thing?

"Forget about Veganagun, go for the copy." Braska was able to see what needed to be done. They would never destroy the Veganagun copy, Shuyin's copy would only bring it back. Cut off the head and the body would follow.

The came again in high volume, coming from the box.

Veganagun started to draw in Pireflies with an pull they could feel, it was charging that cannon.

Auron charged at the copy, with his sword held tightly in both hands he lifted the blade above his head and brought it down on the copy. The broad sword went right through, like it wasn't real... Ok, physical attacks was a definite no go. "Forget about the copy, it's just a reflection."

"The Epitaph... it already has control of the Farplane, It wants to destroy it." Shuyin seemed to come out of the daze, but with audible groans and a lot of pain pounding in his head.

Ok, they weren't sure how he knew but..."What about Yu Yevon?" Braska asked with a promptness.

"I'm not sure, it must want to use the Epitaph to be come the next Sin, that's how Yu Yevon works isn't it?"

"Hn." Auron nodded. "The Epitaph wants to destroy the Farplane to so it can return to Spira and Yu Yevon is giving the Epitaph power so it can use it to create a new Sin. All if it is completely mutual."

Jecht tried this time, going past the copy of Shuyin and strait to the Epitaph, striking the box with his sword. But just as he hit it a mirror rose up, reflecting same attack back to him. Being struck by his own sword, Jecht immediately jumped back, holding his shoulder where he had been struck. " We can't hit _that_." Jecht indicated the copy of Shuyin, "And when I tried to hit the damn box _that_ happened, how the hell are we suppose to fight this thing!"

"I'll try" Braska steeped forward toward the demon, stopping just a foot or so short. Taking the end of his staff, he tapped it against the box, but this time instead of a mirror, Yu Yevon jumped out. It suddenly became clear to him.

"This is starting to make sense." He stepped back quickly. "When Jecht and Tidus arrived here, a hole was created right? Yu Yevon must have came through with them. Then this Demon came to fill the whole and took over the Farplane, trying to get to Spira. Yu Yevon is working with the demon so it can create a new Sin, But it is still a possessor of Aeons. That is it's main purpose. So it must be after Tidus and Jecht. Seeing that Tidus are some how connected with them, and Jecht is technically a faythe."

"Ok, we know what it wants, Now how do we stop it?" Tidus asked.

"I will stop it."

Auron gave a look that completely unlike him. "How will you fight it?"

"I am a summoner." Braska said. "I will do what I do best, summon."

Yu Yevon was descending back in to the box when Braska struck the epitaph it with his staff again to draw it back out.

He lifted the rod in the air, striking the ground with the edge. A blue fire propagated outward around him, creating intricate designs and an emblem. A ray of light shine down carrying with it a Faythe. A young boy in purple robe and sandals with a wheel like symbol on his back engraved in gold, a hood was warn over his head, casting a shadow over his eyes not the Aeon he was looking for but...

Yu Yevon immediately rushed at the boy, who stood still and unwavering, his body started to fade and another faded in to view in his place, Bahamut. Yu Yevon was stopped, seemingly running in to a wall where it usually would have taken control.

"Huh?" Braska looked back, seeing Shuyin helping out again by preventing Yevon from possessing the Aeon.

"Well he got it out…that's half the fight right there." Jecht had to admit it that Braska did stop the mirror effect, which Yu Yevon had been creating.

"Come on, He have to stop the Epitaph, leave Yu Yevon to Braska." Auron lifted his sword again.

"Uh guys! We have a bigger problem!" Tidus yelled, The Veganagun copy finished charging it's main cannon un noticed by anyone. How could they all have stop focusing on the most important thing! It was because they had no idea how to stop it in the first place, their idea was to take out what ever was creating the copy, Yu yevon, and they hadn't. "Is that their any way to stop it!" Tidus looked over at Shuyin hopefully, his heart skipped a beat when he felt the ground start to shake.

Shuyin shook his head regretfully, knowing exactly what the cannon could do. "All that energy, it's gotta come out one way or another."

"What dose that mean?"

Shuyin sighed, noticing the air around them was becoming more heated, a clear effect of the audibly charging cannon. "..."

Silence, that was never a good thing. "OH !"

The weapon tilted upward to the sky and a large blast, immeasurably bright blast fired from the cannon, a ray larg then the cannon itself. It created an extremely hot ara around the firing range, a prelude to incineration, Everything gained a red tent, the air waving with heat distortment wildly, a noise so loud not even thoughts could be heard over it. The floors started to buckle and distort, being pulled toward the upward firing cannon from air pressure differences. All right before everything was covered, blinded and overpowered by a red light.

Then everything was completely silent.

Then an inconceivably loud boom came.

! - ! - !

Guadosalam, peacefully sleeping at 2 in the morning, was a wakened in the worse way.

A loud sound cascaded outward from the Farplane's entrance, low at first but coming increasingly loud like a current of water growing stronger. By the time it reached full volume the whole town was awake.

Then an eerie silence came.

A rush of blue came flying out of the gateway, it was energy or water or some type of substance, followed by a rush of flames that blasted through anything in it's path from the entrance to about 120 feet out. After a few seconds of scorching flames, the explosion finally came, shattering everything fragile in a 30 mile radius. A distorted shockwave radiated from the blast, traveling along the walls and crushing anything it swept over.

A rain of boulders tumbled down from the crushed rock walls holding the entrance of the Farplane was, well, had been embedded in. It smashed into anything the shockwave didn't blow apart.

! - ! - !

"Hey! Gippal, It's an emergency! Wake up!"

Gippal and Baralai were abruptly awakened on a _very_ late flight to Luca, Nooj had organized a speech to Spira that was suppose to happen in two days. It was just decidedly easier to go there and stay for the short time between now and the speech.

It was probably postponed now.

"What?" Gippal sat up in his seat where he had been slumping in subconsciously in his sleep, looking around the dimly lit room with blurry eyes.

The pilot himself had come back to tell them, it must have been really important. But, wasn't he suppose to be flying? "In Guadosalam, you two aren't going to believe this but... The Farplane exploded."

"What?" Gippal's half lidded eye shot open and he sat up completely strait. "You can't be serious?"

"Why aren't you in the cockpit?" Baralai asked with quickly leaving sleepiness in his voice. "And why aren't we moving, shouldn't we be heading there?"

"We were knocked right out of the sky!" The pilot said with clear excitement, and not the good kind "It must have been one hell of a blast, we got hit with an EMP coming in Guadosalam, fried everything."

"Are you telling me we just crashed and I slept through it!"

"That's exactly what I'm telling, in any case they've fiends are pouring out, strong ones. They're calling everyone who can get there to help." The pilot paused for a moment "Or at lest that's what I heard before my radio cut out."

This was so unexpected, how could something like this have happened? And how the hell do you sleep through a crash! That fight with Angra Mainyu must have took more out of them then they thought. 'How...why...I don't even know what to say.' Baralai didn't, except for "Where are we now?"

"Bevelle."

! - ! - !

It was completely dark In the village of Besaid, silent. Both of those conditions were disrupted by the Celsius hovering directly over Yuna's home, kicking up dust. The speakers flared to life, and Brother's voice came through.

"YUNA! GET UP! THE FARPLANE WENT COMPLETELY KABOOMM! GUADOSALAM IS POURING WITH FIENDS! SPIRA IN MASSIVE PANIC!"

Right after he finished his statement, the echo of the explosion could be heard cascading over the horizon. Carried closer by a shockwave that swept over the island. It didn't do much more then create a very strong breeze and blow in some dust, but it was noticeable.

The whole village came alive again as if it was noon.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"What! That's not possible." Yuna's voice echoed through the bridge of the ship with a shoat of disbelief.

"Believe it. There is a major chain reaction, all of Spira is being effected." Buddy had come along with too and he was working diligently at a computer along side of the pilot seat.

Everyone was back for the moment, Shinra was trying to get most of their equipment back on line. Most all of the Machine's programming had been hit by a power surge that effectively burned out most of the hardware, suffering from the same fate very few airships were able to run. As a matter of fact…starting…right…now, the Celsius was the only airship in the air. The one Gippal and Baralai were on just went down in Bevelle.

Rikku and Paine merged from the engine room, somewhat dirty. Yuna wasn't surprised, though she hadn't seen them on board until now "You're here too huh?"

"Hey Yunnie! I would celebrate but….I need a nap" Rikku dropped to her knees, she was tired, so tired...

"We had to fix the engine, while it was running." Paine laid down her sword against he wall and leaned on the door frame, that wasn't easy

Rikku looked around at the full crew, realizing she had no idea where they were going. "Wait a minute? Brother? Where are we going?"

"We have to stop at Bevelle first, A big! Big! Meeting, and they want us to come."

Bevelle had become headquarters for the situation, hastily set of because of it's relatively central location and because that was where Baralai and Gippal landed. Out side the temple the courtyard was packed with people, awaiting people who wanted to know what the hell was going on, why they didn't have any windows anymore, and what happened to everything mechanized they had. And more importantly, what the hell was that noise and that light, were they in danger?

This just seemed to be the reasonable place to look for answers

They all met at the main hall right before to the lift leading to the cloister of trials, a conference table was set up just with enough seats for those invited. Those invited were just about anyone that could help the problem.

That included the Gullwings, Baralai was there of course, along with Gippal, Maroda and Nooj. First, Maroda practically ran Bevelle while Baralai was gone so he was the first one there. And second, Nooj was stuck in Luca. Shirinda, a reporter from Luca that was in charge of Press, took his spot. She could explain it to Spira better then any of them could, with certain filters of course so as not to induce panic.

"Ok, we _all_ know what's happening." Baralai started. "Bevelle's army, or anyone else for that matter, cant get to Guadosalam. Currently the Celsius is the only working airship so that's how we'll get there." Baralai looked around for any questions or objections. With none he proceeded.

"We're pressed for time right now so I'll get to the point, the first hot spot is, Guadosalam, fiends are pouring in to the city making whatever damage that was all ready there worse. The second hot spot is the Mi'ihen High Road. Under the road is a cavern that had some connection to the Farplane, fiends are coming from there too, but our main priory is Guadosalam. But we can't leave the High Road alone, it puts Luca in danger too."

"What about the Youth league?" Rikku asked, Mi'ihen was also connected to Mushroom Rock road where the Youth League headquarters resided.

"They have their hands full." Gippal responded. "The Machine faction too."

Maroda was the only one that had contact with anyone on the road directly, where the problem was rooted. "I spoke to Rin, he has everyone safe, and he's trying to get the Machina back on line. For now things there are under control." If you could call that under control, more like temporally holding.

Baralai nodded in light relief, that was good news. "That's covered but were not out of the woods yet, _all_ of Spira is in danger from the Temples because fiends seem to be coming from anyplace connected to the Farplane. The good news is none have made it to the surface, the only place that have had any attacks are Bevelle, and soldiers are fighting them off as we speak." Baralai sighed "It's only a matter of time though..."

"That's strange, why only here?" Yuna asked.

"I don't know, but the answers are in Guadosalam. We have to get there and minimize casualties." Baralai stood up from his seat, making it clear that they couldn't waste any more time.

"Well, it's not over yet." Yuna dropped he her head, this just never seemed to end.


	12. Chapter 11 : Demon from the abyss: part...

Chapter 11 : Demon from the abyss: part 3

Fiends were pouring out of an hole in the rock wall that used to be the Farplane, blackened by previous flames. All engulfed in a stream Pireflies much more then previously thought existed. The fiends spread out since the city was only so big, taking over the thunder plains and the north bank of the moon flow.

They had to contain the situation, or Macalaina Forest would be next, and if the fiends found away across the Moon flow, the damage would be catastrophic. Luckily for them most of the fiends couldn't swim.

! - ! - !

"Oh man……Shu, I don't know what you did, but I'm glad you did it."

As soon as Tidus was sure he was consciousness and his mind was completely aware, he knew Shuyin had done something to save them. There was no way he could have survived on his own, not after what he had just felt, being incinerated was not a good feeling.

He didn't know where he was, he didn't even open his eyes yet. Tidus was barely aware of how weak and pitiful his voice sounded, he couldn't hear anything past the ringing in his ears and the sound of his heart beat.

As soon as he moved, his muscles were greeted with a throbbing pain, one he easily fought against. He found Shuyin was knelling over him, a hand extended ready to help him up. When the ringing subsided and he was sure he wasn't deaf, he took Shuyin's hand "Where are we?"

"The entrance to the Farplane, what's left of it at least." Shuyin told him, he reached out and grabbed Tidus by his waist when he saw the boy stumble and almost faultier, still not completely oriented yet

They were in Guadosalam, right in front of the Farplane. Tidus could tell Shuyin did more then just save him, If Shu hadn't did what ever he did, Spira wouldn't be here, or at the lest alive.

"Where is?"

"They're alright." Shuyin reassured, pointing out that they were scattered on the ground around him, already awake. The Faythe was still with them also, no longer in Bahamut form.

"Something is wrong here." Jecht, still on his back, lifted his head just enough to look around. "Why don't I see any people, or fiends at lest?" What he was seeing could only be descried as like being underwater, everything was blue and wavy as if looking through a Sphere or water distortion.

"We're not alive, were just out of the Farplane." Shuyin sighed, there was only so much he could do, and since he was dead his powers had become greatly reduced. He barely did this, even then he had to draw some power from the Faythe. "...!"

From the former gateway a blue box drifted through, Yu Yevon's horns sticking out both sides, moving oddly slowly. It was still alive? Yes, of course it was still alive, how could it's copy, a vane image it created to fight in it's steed kill it?

"Oh man, we have to stop that thing." The image of being on the wrong side of Veganagun's ray was burned into his mind, he didn't want to be in that position again...Hold on, he just thought of soming. "…..Wait? If were dead, how can we see Yu Yevon? Dose that mean he's still dead?"

"Yes, I guess." Shuyin shrugged...He heard Jecht speaking.

"Hey guys, look at this." Jecht called everyone over to where and Braska stood, ignoring the Epitaph for the moment. "Where did this come from?" He held out his hand, A sphere recorder he found in a the wreckage of a near by house on the other side of the stone bridge. How did it get here? Something obviously from the living world ended up here. And Speaking of the living world, why where they in Guadosalam? Or at least a place that looked like Guadosalam, a half destroyed Guadosalam at that. "Hmm..." Jecht lifted the lens to his eye, immediately gasping... Through the lens he could see what was happening, what was really happening.

Fiends, lots of them running around, People too, they were screaming, trying to get away, rushing over the many bodies of the dead and injured laying scattered across the ground. For the most part the living people were escaping, these were slow Fiends, slow but powerful. Omega weapons, Adamantines, Earth worms, Behemoths, and other strong Fiends. Well, the Behemoths were fast, but they were too busy eating the dead bodies. It was good for the living, a very bad thing for the injured who couldn't get away.

"We're dead right, and this thing obviously didn't die with us." Jecht drew the device away from his face, looking over each angle of it before he handed it off the Braska for farther inspection. "The only way we can see what's happening in the real world is from Sphere recorders."

Braska lifted it to his eye and pointed it toward the gateway where the Epitaph and Yu Yevon were emerging in an eerie manner. He saw a large form materializing, an orb that a near endless stream of Pireflies where being drawn into. It was forming at the rate, something that had to be connected with the other, Yu Yevon was moving. They were in the same position too... Proving that they had made it in to Spira.

"We'll have to cut this problem off at the source." Auron said.

"It won't be that easy." Shuyin told them, knowing the most about this type of field since he didn't technically exist. Yu Yevon was obviously trying to get on the other side since it had already destroyed the Farplane, the only barrier holding it back. "We need somebody on the other side to help." Shuyin told them. Take out Yu Yevon from this side and the form it was taking on the other before it could complete itself, if it did that they were, well, screwed.

"How are we suppose to do that?" Jecht asked. "We're _dead_. We can't reach those guys out there."

But where Jecht was at a loss, Auron had an idea. "The Sphere recorder can see in to the physical side of Spira, maybe..."

! - ! - !

"This place is a disaster!" Rikku's mouth hung open, staring at all of the Fiends and all of the damage.

"They're coming from the Farplane, what ever is doing this must be there." Paine pushed and fought through the crowd of panicked escaping people to make her way to Yuna and Rikku who waited at the city's entrance. Notably the woods surrounding their current path were raging with flames, this place looked like hell.

"He have to hurry, there is nowhere for these people to run. They'll be killed." Gippal pushed through the last of the fleeing people in to the city, knowing all of those people would becoming back this way.

Baralai was right behind him, having an easier time getting to where he was going "Gippal and I will check out the source of this, you three will have to help protect these people until we get back." Baralai told the girls, hoping the three of them would do better then just he and Gippal would.

"The only safe place is past the Macalaina woods, you think you can get them there?"

Yuna nodded, though clearly unconfident in this task ahead of her. Managing other people and fiends at the same time, a lot of other people... "Yes."

They watched as Gippal and Baralai made their way upward in to the city toward their suspected target, but still fighting off a lot of fiends along the way. Still looking ahead toward the east, Yuna called the Ship through the intercom "Alright Brother, You guys will have to clear out the Thunder planes. Think you can handle it?"

Buddy responded, sounding hurried as if he had been doing something with haste for an extended period of time. "Working on it."

Hoping that it was being taken care, Yuna turned back to an awaiting Rikku and Paine. "We have to go back to the Moon Flow and get those people. We can handle a few fiends right?" Yuna tried to sound optimistic, but the situation looked too bad for her optimism to make an impression.

"If we can take out Veganagun, we can handle some Fiends." Rikku did a better job, if you looked at it that way then it sounded like they had a better chance of succeeding.

"Let's get this over with, the faster we do this, the faster I can get back to bed." Paine changed Dressphere to the Dark Knight, lifting the broadsword over he shoulder and heading for the river.

Making their way to the edge of North Bank in the mist of a considerable amount of fiends, They figured the best way to do this was to start here and gather everyone else as they went. When they arrived, it was massive panic, making the job look a lot tougher. Among the frantic cries and screams that filled the air were frantic people, a lot of whom where trying to jump in the river and swim across or to float on whatever they could. "Your on Yuna." Paine steeped out of her way, doing so under the excuse that being high summoner people would listen to her.

"Hey Everyone! Calm down! " Yuna's voice couldn't be heard, so she yelled even louder

"HEY!"

No one responded, they didn't even know she was there, "..." She needed a different, more direct approach. With one in mind Yuna raised both of her guns above her head, firing in to the air rapidly and loudly, not stopping until she deemed it had gotten quiet enough and everyone was acknowledging her presence.

"Everyone! Listen to me, we can get you all to safety." She called out, people where really paying attention now, knowing that the high summoner could save them. "But you'll have to trust us and listen. Get behind me." She directed, Rikku and Paine had taken out any fiends residing in the immediate path there, it was safe. Seeing that, Everyone ran behind her, it was a full stampede of quickened paces and worried voices, but some how no one knocked her over.

With Yuna leading the charge and things as organized as they would get, everyone ran forward, and though wanting to get where they were going as fast as possible they very clear on staying behind her.

"Ok!" Feeling more confident in their cause, Yuna directed Rikku standing to her right. "Rikku, your in charge of behind us, if anything tries to sneak up, you'll have to stop it."

"You can count on me." Gave a small nod before running to the back of a long stretch of people, ready to jump in to position if she saw something.

"Paine, You take the sides, the only thing we really have to worry about is Fiends from the Forest, so stay to the right."

"Got it." Paine rushed in to position immediately, knowing the threat was more probable then a back attack. And of course Yuna was in front, ready to take down any fiends that got in the way.

Before going any farther with what little time she had, Yuna equipped any thing that raise strength, her goal was to take everything out as fast as possible. Before proceeding she called the ship.

"Hey? Where's Maroda? "

Buddy answered her, sounding more frantic and hurried then before. "He went to the High Road remember? Rin needed some help there..." There was a small pause and a shifting sound before Buddy returned. "Oh and Shinra wants to talk to you "

She waited a second while Shinra switched communications over to himself.

"Yuna, I can do radar on anything you miss, the Thunder plane is clear so you don't have to worry about that. Just tell me when."

Yuna knew Radar to be a missile Shinra created, it used magic to replicate itself nearly endlessly.

"Thank you." Yuna move quickly along the edge of the river, the crowd of a few hundred was more then able to keep up. "!" Yuna stopped so abruptly that she nearly fell when a large fiend landed in front of her hard enough to make the earth shake on land, Omega Weapon. "Stay back!" Using quick trigger she lifted her guns toward it and opened fire on the weapon, It roared loudly and charged at her, throwing it's claws at her with furious swipes. Yuna jumped back, just narrowly escaping the attack and started firing again, a few more rounds of this and it was quickly defeated.

But around the corner more came their way, a set of three similar weapons. Instead of charging directly into the started crowed they stopped, unrolling a set of 'wings' on it's back. Yuna knew what was coming next, so she got ready to fire, knowing this wouldn't be good for the crowd, she couldn't protect them..."Shinra"

"I'm on it."

All three Omega weapons used judgment. Firing a barge of rays in to the air from the holes on the appendages, there had to be hundreds of the beams of light raining down heading for the crowd of people. Yuna did the only thing she thought to do at the moment, raising her guns into the air and began firing with as much precision as she had gained, shooting down as many as she could, but there were to many and they were coming to fast.

Luckily Shinra's missile arrived in the nick of time, it was more off casing holding the actual missile inside of it, thousands of smaller missiles

"Aiming….."

"Hurry!"

"Firing!"

The casing exploded in a burst of discharged metal and smoke, releasing a rain of small green headed missiles. A few of them separated, the bulk of them going left toward the Fiends while the others took out the rays of the Judgment attack. Yuna watched with her arm over his eyes as a torrent and chain reaction of blast swallowed the weapons, leaving nothing left of them but Pireflies.

"Good job Shinra."

"Thank you."

She waved everyone forward and the charge continued, gathering more stay people as they went.

! - ! - !

"What the hell is this?" Gippal watched the large reflective fill slowly immerging from the Farplane's gate, it was still just forming, still relatively shapeless, gaining more feature with every Pirefly it absorbed.

"I would guess what's causing all of this." Baralai said, climbing up the mass of bridges and ledges leading to this spot.

Gippal and Baralai looked back at the sound of gun shots and people, Yuna was passing through the city with a crowd of people. And from the look of the numbers and the amount of fiends it would take a while to get through.

"There's no way we can fight this thing here." Gippal looked at the mirror like creature that did seem to notice them yet, he wasn't sure what he would to expect but there was no reason to take chances.

"As soon as Yuna gets those people to safety we'll bait to the Thunder plains and fight it there." Baralai suggested.

So they had to wait until then.

Taking advantage of the free time, the two of them decided to scout around for anybody that wasn't with Yuna or was still alive in the weakage that used to be structures, making sure they didn't perform any actions that might prematurely provoke the creature. By luck, if you could call it that, Baralai walked under a falling Sphere that stuck him rather hard in the head. "Ow! What was that?"

It rolled of his head and in to his hand, and after a bit of rubbing Baralai looked it over. "A sphere? Where did it come from?"

Gippal surveyed the device for himself , it didn't seem to be damaged from the fall, all in one piece. "We have a little time, wanna watch it? "

Baralai nodded a yes, still rubbing his head.

! - ! - !

At first it was just a view around Guadosalam, the same one they had been looking at since they got here.

Baralai noted that. "This was taken recently." Which rose the question of who had recorded it and why was it falling out of the sky?

The gateway to the Farplane came into view, now just a deep void of darkness, only confirming how recent this was taken. Which is why what happened so next would be so strange... They heard who ever recorded the sphere talking behind the camera.

! - ! - ! "If some one finds this in time" ! - ! - !

Baralai and Gippal looked at each other, they knew that voice, they couldn't forget it. At the same time they both realized "It's Shuyin."

! - ! - ! "We need help. Somebody has to kill this thing from that side." The view shifted to a blue box with claws protruding from the sides, oddly it was in the same place as the shapeless mass drawing in Pireflies they were keeping an eye on. "Uh, we should probably tell them who we are….." ! - ! - !

There was silence for a moment, then a shifting sound while the recorder changed hands. Tidus's voice came in as the view turned to Yuna, Rikku and Paine leading people out of Guadosalam, this was recently taken.

! - ! - !"Hey! There's Yuna." Tidus exclaimed. ! - ! - !

! - ! - ! Jecht could be heard in the background, near Tidus. "Hey, What is Yu Yevon doing?" he sounded nervous.

The recorder shifted to everyone who spoke, Braska's voice came in next. "It's changing?"

"No, the _Fiend_ is changing. Yu Yevon is helping." Auron told them

"We have to get Yu Yevon out of the Epitaph before it dose." Braska said, he sounded worried.

"Aren't we forgetting something." Shuyin's voice came back and he took the recorder from Tidus, "Somebody has to stop that fiend now, it's coming out of the Farplane... If it keeps gaining power no one will be able to stop it"

"We can't wait anymore, we have to fight this thing now!" ! - !- !

"Was that, High Summoner Braska?" Baralai stared at the now blank sphere, there was no doubt he just seen what he had just seen, he was just trying to figure it out. How? How?

"Well, the Farplane was destroyed, it probably was." Gippal reasoned, anything was possible, and considering the situation it seemed logical. They didn't have time to figure it out anyway. "In any case they seem to know more about it then we do." Gippal gave Baralai back the Sphere since it landed on his head. "You think Yuna's out of the Thunder planes yet?" Gippal pulled the cannon off of his back, aiming for the forming fiend.

Baralai drew his staff also, holding it before him. "I sure of it."

Gippal took aim, the hum of machinery coming to life followed. "Ready?"

"Not really, but I'll mange."

With that, Gippal fired a volley of three missiles at the whatever was coming out of the Farplane.

The fiend was still but shapeless and clear like a mirror, but they could see a mouth turning toward them like a cloudy reflection when the projectiles struck.

"I think we got it's attention." Baralai laid his staff over his shoulder, turning his back to it and running as fast as he could.

! - ! - !

With a sense of accomplishment Yuna had successfully and safely lead scores of people across the Thunder planes in to the Macalaina woods. There were less fiends there, certainly not nearly as powerful, which was always a good thing.

"Should we go to Bevelle or the Calm lands?" Yuna spoke to her teammates using the small earpiece communicators Shinra had created.

"What about going towards Macalaina temple?" Rikku kept a tight guard on the back, watching for any fiends.

"It's too cold, and now that the a temple fell under the lake, there's not enough room." Paine pointed out, still guarding from the side.

"Bevelle is packed, and they trying to hold off fiends coming from under the temple. It's not safe." Buddy was working to find someplace else, and judging by the sudden sound of inspiration that traditionally came with Buddy, he had thought of something. "Hey, what about the Calm lands?"

"That could work." Yuna cleared away another fiend in the way, something easy and weak that only took a few shots.

"I'll get right on it!" Brother said with his usual energy, even though it was 4 in the morning.

! - ! -!

The Celsius pulled out of the Thunder Planes, heading for the Calm lands.

"Alright! We need to clean out the Calm lands before Yuna gets there. Shinra? You think we enough weapon's left?" Buddy asked, working diligently at the throttle.

"If we aim right." Shinra told him, working numbers on the panel he had on the side.

"What do you mean! Why can't we blow them all up!" Brother asked in a whining voice.

The numbers didn't look good, with a lot of their weapon systems down already from the EMP disruption before, and the fact that they were flying on surge protected auxiliary systems. It made him question why he didn't put such protections on the main systems. Anyway, the point was that most of the ammunition they had was unfireable. "If we do that, we'll run out of Ammo."

"Awwwwthat's no fun!"

"Just leave the weapon's to me, you just worry about not getting us blown up."

"RRRRodger!"

The Calm lands had more fiends then expected, they were coming out of the Calm land gorge and about every hole, ditch, or anything deep connected to it. These were the same powerful fiends coming from the Farplane.

To his advantage Brother had plenty of room to maneuver the ship, they needed it.

"Alright, Buddy, you stick with navigation." Shinra instructed, typing diligently "Brother try not to get hit."

"Speaking of navigation" Buddy started "We got magic coming at us from all sides."

Of course, Brother turned to Shinra for an answer. "Quick! What do we do?"

"Um…I'm just a kid."

"What!"

The ship shook violently from the impact, they only sustained minimal damage though.

Brother flew down low to the ground, sweeping across the uneven plans covered in short grass While Shinra fired off missiles in to the crowd of monsters scattered across the area, pulling up at the wall near Mt. Gagazet.

A few Omega Weapon type fiends scattered around lunched a Judgment attack, sending up thousands of rays shooting upward. It was like a wall was coming right at them, there was nowhere they could go where they wouldn't be hit.

So Brother went up, driving the ship head first into the air. The Celsius managed to stay ahead, but they couldn't out run it since the attack seemed to be homing. "You better think fast shorty." Brother growled back.

"I have it covered." Shinra fired out two Radar missiles from both sides of the ship, with more precision in the targeting process then previous uses the round shell exploded into smaller missiles that shot toward the gaining rays. Able to take out a section of them large enough to slip through.

"Brother, get me close to the gorge." Shinra told him.

"Right."

With a quick free fall toward the ground a sharp turn around, Brother flew the ship the edge of the Calm lands, sweeping over the edge of the rock wall separating the calm lands and the temple. The Machine gun flared on the Celsius's underside flared to life and volley of missiles lunched. The explosion closed an entrance for the Fiends.

Brother swept past the Calm lands again, flying low enough to smash through anything on the ground. The machine guns roared again and missiles exploded, killing off more of the remaining fiends before they even saw it coming.

"Brother! Huge energy source at 3 'O clock." Buddy called out. Brother pulled the ship to the left to avoid a Supernova attack. The red energy exploded sending out a sharp shock wave that knocked them off course, nearly knocking them to the ground.

"One's under us!"

Brother struggled to raise the ship in time, expending as much physical strength as he could to draw the throttle back. The ship drew up just barely enough to stay clear of another supernova attack, they did receive a strong impact on the bottom of the ship.

"8 o'clock!"

That caught him off guard with a near direct hit striking the left side of the ship as he tried to dive lower, knocking the ship down. Brother managed to pull it up just before they crashed, barely regaining control of the ship before they took a nose dive. "Any more?"

Shinra shook his head. "No."

The Celsius hovered in the center of the Calm lands while Brother quickly checked the system for damage. Most of it had already been there from fighting in the Thunder planes, but that near direct supernova didn't help.

"Are there any other way for fiends to get in to the calm lands?" Shinra directed the question to Buddy.

"No, all we need to do is clear out the rest of these and we're in the clear."

Brother looked at him anticipatingly. "So we can blow everything up?"

"Go ahead, I'll switch weapons over to you." Shinra did so, giving weapon control to set triggers in the cockpit.

"Try not to over do it." Buddy pleaded, thinking it had been a bad idea...

"Are you KIDDING!"

The Celsius fired out the Radar missiles out two at a time, lunching them high in the air. The ship started to spin around in a circle, firing bullets and lunching rockets in an insane manner. Brother slowly pulled the ship upward, still firing, while he moved out of the way of the ground.

Seconds later, it was as if the whole Calm lands had blown up. Thousands of explosions swept over the land, one after another, undoubtedly destroying any fiends remaining.

"There's a word for this." Buddy sighed.

Shinra promptly took over weapons control again. "Try overkill."

"Yeah, that's it."


	13. Chapter 12: Demon from the abyss: Finale

Chapter 12: Demon from the abyss: Finale

Yuna lead the group of people safely out of the forest and in to the Calm lands, what was left of it anyway. All the smoking craters, long scorch marks, and flames, it had to be the work of Brother. Nevertheless, it was fiend free and large enough to fit everyone.

"Good job you guys." Buddy congratulated them through the receiver, oddly enough the ship that caused all this damage wasn't here.

Yuna looked around, trying to find any signs of it's location besides the obvious ones, though none could be found. "Where are you guys?" She asked, glancing back at the hordes of people talking behind her. Individually they weren't loud, but together...

"Big emergency on the High Road." Buddy told her regretfully. "You'll be alright wont you?"

"Uh Huh." She nodded, still watching the former citizens of Guadosalam and anyone in the surrounding areas who's panic was subsiding into worry and a general depression. "I didn't want to leave all these people alone anyway. What's going on?"

"Maroda called, He and Rin have a giant Fiend problem. They're over running the place."

"Need help?"

"We can handle this, after all, we cleared the Calm lands."

"Well..." Cleared wasn't the terminology Yuna would use for what presumably Brother had done to this place. "I guess that's one word for it."

! - ! - !

Gippal and Baralai finally made it to the empty Thunder planes, the strangely shaping fiend following promptly behind them. When provoked it was surprisingly fast, something that had to find out the hard way.

Lighting streaked loudly through the sky, almost causing a small distraction as the two dashed through the lines of high protruding metal farther electrified by the hard rain pooling in the divots of the uneven ground. Passing halfway through the rows of lighting rods, Baralai stopped abruptly. "Gippal, hold on." Baralai called back, being ahead since he was faster, and knelt down next to a small blue sphere that lay there.

"Do we even have time to watch this thing?" Gippal looked back at the floating orb they had lured out here. It was moving slowly again, either not noticing them anymore or felt no need to move as fast since it wasn't immediately being provoked. "Yeah, I guess we do."

This time there was no picture, just some one speaking.

Summoner Braska.

" Thank you for leading it to an open area, it wouldn't respond to just one sided attacks." The man said, which explained why it wasn't coming after them anymore, unless it was being hit from both sides then it didn't work.

"This Fiend as two Sides. The one you are seeing, and the one we are seeing Yu Yevon...I hope you know what that is already, I don't have time to explain it... is using a demon to try and recreate Sin.

We can stop Yu Yevon and the demon from this side, but it will be useless if you kill the Fiend from your side. It's still weak but it's gaining power so you must hurry...It has already destroyed the Farplane, if we wait any longer then I'm not sure we'll be able to stop it. Good Luck"

"It's nice to know were not taking this thing on alone." Baralai said with an optimistic "tone And High Summoner Braska's Blessing doesn't hurt." At lest he sounded optimistic which is what he was going for, but honestly he was beginning to get nervous, very nervous. Baralai shifted around his jacket and adjusted his headband.

Gippal knew that to be one of Baralai's nervous habits..."It's still doing... whatever it's doing with those Pireflies, that must be how it's getting stronger. Anyway we can cut off it's supply?"

"I'm not sure." Something Baralai might be repeating often today.

"Hmm….." Gippal cuffed his hands over his mouth and began shouting "Yelling Summoner Braska! If you can, find away to stop it from absorbing Pireflies!" He called out, hoping where ever they were, they could hear him, even better yet, do something about it.

"I guess we better get this over with." Baralai lifted his rod from where it was holstered on his back. Turning around to face the monster in question that had drifted dangerously close, a fight was immanent, no question about that.

The mirror like substance shifted around, stretching and contracting in a strange manner as it finally took it's intended form.

"Whoa..."

It's body was huge to put it lightly, with only a torso and no legs it's body just floated in the air. Two large arms appeared, but they weren't connected to the body though floated there, moving with the body as if it had shoulders to connect them. It didn't have hands either, it's extremity stopped at the wrist. Behind it's neck a large, arching band stretched out and above it's head a round disc floated like an over sized hallow. The Fiend Penance... but it still looked incomplete, the most defining feature was that it didn't have any color, it's body was just reflective, as if looking into a sculpted mirror.

"Look's like this is it." Gippal stared at the large Fiend floating above them in mild disbelief, it looked worse then Angra Mainyu when standing this close to it. "Hey...look." Gippal pointed out one fortunate thing about this battle, the location. Penance was, basically, a lighting rod. Still weak compared to what it would grow to be, it had an elemental weakness, Lighting. Being the biggest thing around, it received every bolt.

And because of that, or some strange energy gather, storm clouds moved in, carrying rain along with it. The dark plains became even darker, it was nearly pitch black except for the frequent lighting struck, and lighting strikes.

! - ! - !

The Epitaph floated high above them, Yu Yevon still inside with claws visibly protruding from the side.

"I'll fight Yevon with the Faythe." Braska felt a certain responsibility to fight against Yu Yevon, being a summoner. With out saying Shuyin had to go with him, he was the only one that could stop Yevon from taking control of Aeons since he knew how the whole processes of possessing worked.

"Inoringo." The Faythe said.

"Huh?" Braska glanced back down at him.

"My name is Inoringo."

Braska smiled, "Nice to meet you."

The boy nodded politely.

"Will you be alright?" Auron asked. It sounded strange to someone like Tidus, who had never heard him use that type of tone.

"Don't worry about me. I can handle it." Braska reassured him a lighter voice, always positive.

They separated, being sure to give each other enough room to avoid any misguided attacks.

Basically the teams were equal, Tidus, Jecht and Auron were ready and planning to fight the Epitaph. And Braska, Shuyin and the Faythe were taking on Yu Yevon, the Faythe really had no choice in this, being pulled into the situation by summoning and nearly incinerated among other things

Braska looked around the thunder planes that he still couldn't figure out how they were seeing it, nor why this placement situation, knowing he'd have to figure it out later. It still bother him... "Alright, Go ahead." Braska told the faythe that they were ready and he changed to Bahamut once again.

And just as expected Yu Yevon separated from the demon, coming directly after the Aeon. Bahamut spread his wings with tensed arms and a growl emitting from deep in his throat, the halo like wheel on his back moving into a light spin. 6 or so static orbs of dark energy that moved like discharging electricity formed around the dragon, lunching at the Yevon with a loud roar. The static orbs moved around erratically though inanely drawn to it's target, each one stuck the approaching Yu Yevon with discharging sparks.

Being knocked back lightly from the forceful attack, Yevon retreated back even farther, two pillars forming on the side of Yevon, both with in a diamond like shape, strange inscriptions across every inch of it in glowing red letters. They began to spin, changing directions frequently, it was using the same tactics as the last time it was encounter inside Sin, only slightly modified. Both of them continually cast Curative spells on the creature.

The Epitaph dropped to the ground with a loud crash, soaking wet from the rain sheeting off it's surface, only illuminated by lighting strikes around them just as everything else. It opened up, reveling another mirror. "I hope I learned this right." Jecht, with nervous uncertainty that he had learned it correctly, cast dispel on a hunch he'd had. As he guessed it would, the dispel magic shattered the mirror and reviled what was behind it. 'It worked...Huh?' Unexpectantly it was only an orb of light connected to the side of the box by what appeared to be a sticky substance.

"Who cares what it looks like!" Tidus ran up to the box with out hesitation, draw his arm back and thrusting his sword into the center of it. It felt different this time, like something with flesh, and that odd roar came again. But right after he struck it the box closed and Tidus nervously jumped back a safe distance. Auron tried to attack this time, lifting the sword above his head and bringing it down on the Epitaph with a large grunt. About half way in to his swing a mirror appeared, he saw himself in it's reflection, doing the same action... Auron quickly caught his sword before he completed the attack, knowing from previous demonstration he didn't want to touch that mirror Auron backed away. This was more complicated then they thought it would be.

Tidus overdrive: 70

Auron overdrive: 1

Jecht overdrive: 1

Braska overdrive: 70

Shuyin overdrive:75

Aeon's overdrive: 6

! - ! - !

Penance raised both of arms and slammed them in to the ground, it's strength causing a massive earthquake to surge through the ground. The earth beneath them buckled and pushed into itself until it pushed upward and broke apart under Baralai and Gippal, throwing them painfully to the ground.

Gippal rose to his knees, pulling a switch above the trigger on his cannon, visibly charging either from the red smoke like aura flowing out of the barrel before he lifted it toward the flash lit Penance, sending a ray of energy at the Fiend.

Baralai stuck to spells as he usually did, combining a Thunder spell with one of his own spell mediums to create a Tornado spell. Winds started to pick up, swirling with picked up rainfall and debris around Penance to created a tornado that couldn't be seen in the darkness. The strong winds tore at it like blade, trying to rip it apart. More lighting flashed, allowing them to see Penance swing it's arm and disperse the winds. "Damn, useless." Baralai used osmosis to regain some of his MP.

"I can't see a thing out here!" Gippal didn't think it was possible but he was actually having trouble hitting Penance. Maybe it was how slippery the thunder plains got during a really bad storm, or the fact that he couldn't retain his footing, or that he couldn't see anything except in quick flashes that were followed with deafening rolls of thunder loud enough to throw anyone off. "Where the hell is this!"

A flash of lighting gave them a split second view of their surrounding them and one of Penance's detached arms being held out towards them. When the flash faded some kind of red barrier Penance created could be seen brightly enough to illumined everything. The Barrier fired in to the air, coming down on Baralai and Gippal and shattering like glass, drawing a cry of pain from the both of them.

Afterwords Baralai was left leaning on his staff, and Gippal barely standing.

Baralai's overdrive: 10

Gippal's overdrive: 10

! - ! - !

A mirror appeared in front of the Epitaph, reflecting a flare spell on to all three of them even though it was only cast by one person. With flames dieing off, Auron, Jecht and Tidus stumbled to their feet.

Auron's sword began to glow, shining a white light that cut through the darkness. "It's a demon, maybe..." He pressed his finger against the rim of the glasses pushed them upward to block out more of the light. Then Auron confidently charged at the Demon using Holy sword, watching the mirror appear. Something was different this time, his sword wasn't in the reflection, nothing but the handle. The demon couldn't reflect holy! "Got it." He easily shattered through the mirror, striking the box on the other side. He felt it crack a little.

"Holy!" Shuyin exclaimed, "Damn, It's a demon, I should have figured it out!"

The box opened again, this time with out a mirror. The Epitaph used Pandora's box, and something completely random came out. This time it was another mirror, but it reflected Death. The box closed again with the mirror shattering, Death appeared, but it wasn't moving.

With great care, Jecht ran up to it, slashing it with his sword. It shattered and another crack appeared in the box.

"Huh? What was that?" Tidus was confused, it didn't seem like that last attack did anything.

Bahamut spread his wings with one flap strong enough to lift the large dragon into the air, gliding over to Yevon and striking the surprisingly solid enemy with a powerful swipe of his class. Yevon didn't respond, but the two pillars along side of it did. They started to spin faster creating casting Holy at the same time, two sets of orbs surrounded Bahamut, drawing in rays of light from all sides on to Bahamut. The dragon fell backwards, smoldering from the burning rays of light.

Shuyin pulled his sword back over his shoulder with both hands and throwing his sword at one of the pillars. He hit the left on, striking it drawing it back him. The pillar stopped moving, seemingly 'dead'. But the other one countered by ramming in to him, sending him sliding back a few feet. "Uhhff!"

With Shuyin unfocused, the powers that protected Bahamut faded. Sensing this Yevon rushed over to the dragon, sliding inside of him a ghost and possessed him. '!' But Bahamut wasn't going to let Yevon control him again. With no other choice, he Kamikazed before Yevon could take him over. With a fierce roar his body started to glow, then unleashed a powerful explosion.

Braska was almost knocked out by the blast, at the least he was thrown backwards after being at that proximity. "AHhhhuufff!" From the ground he saw Yevon being blown back in a stream of black smoke, and Bahamut, who forcibly had been changed back in to Inoringo, was now soaring threw the air, smoldering with a nearly equal amount of smoke trailing behind him. "No, Inoringo!"

"I got him." Shuyin was there to catch the small boy unconscious, though he had to dive outward to catch him. Laying Inoringo aside a safe distance away. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Braska stood up, ready to summon again. With his staff raised and a few mumbled words, a bolt of lighting streaked down on to the rod, charging in a ball of electricity. Braska toss the staff in the air, the growing electricity discharging in the air and opening up a hole, seemingly in reality. The horse Ixion jumped through, sliding to a stop next to the summoner with a discharging sparks and Braska's staff in it's mouth. Braska took the rod with a small thanks.

Tidus overdrive: 75

Auron overdrive: 10

Jecht overdrive: 10

Braska overdrive: 79

Shuyin overdrive:80

Aeon's overdrive: 12

! - ! - !

Penance raised it's arm, throwing an invisible impact into the clouds above, pushing them back. Immediately stopping the lighting strikes an the rain, but letting the moonlight through allowing easy sight of the mirror skinned creature. Seeing his surroundings gave Baralai a strange feeling, around him was a crystal clear night illuminated by moon light. But only a few steps back, black clouds with lighting strikes and heavy rain.

Baralai continued to use Osmoses, concentrating and focusing for his next spell. Gippal lifted the cannon strait up in the air, firing a white flare upward into the patch of clear sky, it softly floated down ward exploding with white flames and a powerful shockwave that drove the clouds back farther. "Are we even doing anything to it?" Gippal asked, watching Pireflies start to stream towards Penance in large volumes. Every time they hit it, more Pireflies came, it just kept getting stronger.

"Just be patient."

Penance's body began to glow with a white haze, soft white smoke rising from it's body. The opening through the clouds around shined with a white light that covered everything, Baralai lifted his arm to shield the persistent brightness, Gippal cuffing his hand over his eyes. A sizzling sound persisted, loud enough to override any cries of pain coming from the two men before the light slowly softened and faded away, leaving a deep crater in it's wake. At the bottom, Gippal and Baralai were on the ground, barley alive in a mixture of loud pants and a pool of blood.

"Aw... What the hell was that?" Gippal tried to stand, pushing himself off of his stomach only to failed, just barely getting to his knees.

"I...don't know." Baralai, still on his back, reached in to his pocket and for two elixirs. With one eye open and hands shaky, Baralai managed to mix together a Megalixir, drinking half of it sloppily before handing the rest to Gippal. Just narrowly bring them back in to the fight. "Are you ok?"

Gippal wiped away the blood streaming down his forehead and coughed, "You don't want me to answer that."

A few more gust of winds caused the clouds filled back in over Penance, bring back the heavy rain, unseeable darkness and lighting strikes. Water streamed down the sides of the crater in large rivers, mixing with the rain.

"I hope you can swim." Gippal looking down at the raising water already passing his knees.

Baralai didn't seem too worried. "This may work to our advantage."

"That's what I like about you, you always have a plain." Gippal was tempted to kiss him, and would have, if they weren't in a fight for there lives and to save Spira from what could become the next Sin. He just hoped Baralai's thought was good, the rate at which this monster was growing stronger was frightening, roughly estimating all it needed was 20 minutes.

Baralai's overdrive: 20

Gippal's overdrive: 50

! - ! - !

The demon Epitaph opened again, reflecting a Firaga spell on to the three. They easily endured the rush of flames, Jecht even absorbed it.

"Tidus, your up." Jecht cast another dispel, shattering the mirror, leaving an opening for Tidus to attack. The boy stuck the box with his sword before it could put up another mirror, creating another crack in the box. Auron attacked with Holy sword , holding the glowing blade down by his side, He swung it upward in a swift uppercut, hard enough to chip a piece off the interior .

Jecht managed to get in another attack because of the haste in effect, hitting the Epitaph with confusion sword. He attacked the side of the box where it was weakest, the interior side. It seemed to be effective.

The demon Epitaph opened again, using Pandora 's box again, thanks to the confusion the mirror inside reflected Braska instead of it's intended target. The door's closed, and a copy of Braska appeared, but it didn't move at all. "What is this?" Auron was also confused by it, it didn't seem to do anything, with more caution Auron attacked the copy. "?"

That was the last thing needed, causing the box to crumble into shards of blue. It seemed as if that would be the end of it, but before they could even speak a word of it another loud roar screeched through the air and the Epitaph emerged

! - ! - !

Ixion bucked, sending a ball of electricity from his horn into Yevon with a nearly unseeable speed. The 'dead.' left pillar began to move again, and resonating with the right, and both of them charged at Ixion, slamming in to him from both sides. The shook off the blow and charged at Yevon, spearing it with it's horn. But Yevon latched on to it's horn with it's claw like appendages, sinking in, trying to posses the Aeon.

Just like Bahamut, it had no choice but to Kamikaze rather then to be controlled and wasted in the same way by Yevon. It unleashed an intense explosion, discharging electricity like lighting, destroying the two pillars around them and leaving them as nothing more then a pile of dust.

Tidus overdrive: 80

Auron overdrive: 18

Jecht overdrive: 20

Braska overdrive: 87

Shuyin overdrive:80

Aeon's overdrive: 50

! - ! - !

The rain was starting to raise the water level substantially. It was already up to Gippal's waist, and he was taller then Baralai. "How is this helping us?" Gippal shouted half angrily, lifting his cannon on to his shoulders and firing a Mortar in the air, then a second one just as the first exploded. A bright green light radiated from above the crater, a few embers of a green chemical fire raining down into the pooling water.

The rain washing away the rest of Gippal's attack, Penance's body began to shine through the darkness with a blue haze this time, causing a blue smoke rise off of the Fiend. "Oh man...what now." Gippal wiped away the water streaming down from his hair into his eyes, only to be replaced by the rain growing heavier because of Penance's attack, sending down a spray of acid with it. Gippal lowered is head and tried to shield his face, his clothing was starting to burn through. "How is this water helping?"

Baralai grabbed Gippal by the head and pulled the both of them bellow the pooling water's surface, and holding down until the rain softened.

When they emerged again, expecting to breath again, they found the water had risen above their heads, and the acid had washed away most of the ground surrounding the crater. It had grown in to a small pond. Baralai and Gippal climbed out of the crater back on to land, Penance stayed directly above the water, making a direct attack imposable. "Are you alright?" Baralai stumbled to the surface, coughing any inhaled water.

"Not really, we're getting our ass kicked!" Gippal pushed some of the hair now plastered to his face out of his eyes.

"Just be patient." Baralai repeated, adjusting his soaked jacket nervously.

He extended one hand outward using Osmoses to pull in more MP from Penance, while Gippal fired a wave of three missiles at the Fiend. The gray projectiles streaked through the rain soaked air, a flash of lighting illuminating their path before they struck the mirroring monster and exploded.

Penance started to glow again, this time with a yellow tint that flowed over it like flames. Two walls of electricity dropped from the clouds, one sweeping over the ground from behind them and another in front. This didn't look like a survivable attack, so it forced Baralai postpone his current tactic and take action. "Lighting shield!" A yellow shell surrounded the two of them just as they were caught in-between the two walls. A out pour of electricity run over them, at first streaking right past them because of the shield, but Baralai's lighting shield was broken through after a few seconds and electricity surged through their bodies, dispersing after a few more seconds.

Gippal dropped to his knees, a breath caught in his throat. He still managed to utter out "You alright?"

Baralai was laying on his back beside him, thankful he cast the spell in time "I'm ok…"

Baralai's overdrive: 100

Gippal's overdrive: 100

! - ! - !

Braska held his staff outward, igniting it in to a blaze fire. He swept the staff across the ground, leaving a trail of fire in a circle around him that he quickly stepped out of. Ifrit burst through the ground, standing by Braska's side. The Aeon breathed out a hot breath, creating a burning meteor, sending it flying towards Yevon.

Braska knew what would happen so he saved some time, with expressed remorse to the Aeon, and sent Ifrit to Kamikaze. The beast charged past the two pillars and grabbed hold of Yu Yevon, it's body surrounded in flames that expanded outward with an intense heat creating a massive explosion and shockwave. When the dust settled, Yevon was still there, but the two pillars it had created were completely decimated. Just when it seemed nothing was working, Yevon started to fall out of the air only to catch itself a few seconds later, it was weakening!

The only reason it had survived this long was the two Pillars that had been casting curative magic. Pillars that relentlessly came back time after time.

Shuyin took care of that.

He sword grew dark, radiating a black haze. "This outta stop you!" He used sword of the dead, veering back and threw his sword accurately at the Yevon. The strike caused a Zombie effect, an affliction that turned Yevon's whole healing fighting style against itself.

Braska lifted his staff above his head, causing a rain of ice to drop down from above. On a ray of light through the darkness Shiva drifted down, joining the summoner. As the others did, Shiva Kamikazed in a brilliant explosion of ice that left Yevon nearly frozen. "Did that do it?" Braska watched, waiting for any movement.

"Hmm..." Braska, with odd confidence, walked slowly towards Yevon, a very bold move. "Maybe if I could... Just touch"

Luckily the Faythe regained conciseness just in time to see everything, ingenuity told him this was a very bad move. He had to warn him...Inoringo sat upright promptly and shouted "No! Wait!"

"Huh?" Braska heard his word and stopped, taking a small glance back the boy and then one last look at the frozen over Yu Yevon before heading back.

Inoringo rubbed his head, hoping that his healing powers as a faythe would kick in soon to at lest clear away this headache. "Yu Yevon is not defeated." He told them, wrapping his arms around himself to hold his pained torso. Everything hurt! "But you have an opening." his weak voice made it clear that the boy was in no condition to fight, so he stayed down 'Uhaaa...'.

"Alright then." Braska looked back at the frozen Yevon, He tried to summon Valfor but failed, It wouldn't come, probably because of another summoner... So he tried the last Aeon he had, Yojimbo.

The samurai walked in to existence, simply appearing in a drift of cherry blossoms. But something was different about him. His faithful dog Daigoro wasn't with him... Yojimbo drew his blade with a flick of the wrist, holding it with both hands and sliced through the ice. Failing to do the same for Yevon, the opposite unfortunately, he just helped it get free.

This was looking bad already.

Knowing this Yojimbo took off his hat and sheathed his sword, giving both of them to a half questioning Braska, preparing to Kamikaze. Yojimbo turned back to Yevon with two fingers lifted, a strong, chrisom energy was channeled from his body, expelled outward like a wave, engulfing Yevon and exploding with a strong chain reaction. From there Yojimbo dropped to his knees and faded.

Unfortunately Yu Yevon survived, but it had taken a lot of damage, they were close.

! - ! - !

The another form of Epitaph rose from the rubble, a ball of light with a mirror in front of it.

"What the hell is that?" Jecht looked over it, it didn't seem tough.

"Be careful, it's stronger then it looks." Auron warned.

The orb of light was slowly starting to take shape, the real Epitaph was emerging. And realizing this, "We have to stop it now!" Auron lifted his sword once again glowing with holy as he charged at the demon.

The two panels opened revealing the mirror inside just as Auron struck it. But he was sent back by a reflection of himself, in this stage the Epitaph could reflect holy. Jecht cast dispel, but it didn't work. Nothing worked.

Before the had time to figure it out, the two panels fell to the ground revealing the mirror. The ball of light had taken some sort of shape of a large creature, and it was reflected in the mirror. A demon with large bat like wings and yellow scales, it's shape almost resembled Bahamut. On top of it's head were two large horns and it had thick claws on it's hands and feet and a long swinging tail.

The demon burst through the mirror, shattering it. Yevon dropped the fight and rushed to it like it was being drawn, drifting inside of the demon and possessing it.

Tidus overdrive: 86

Auron overdrive: 28

Jecht overdrive: 50

Braska overdrive: 100

Shuyin overdrive:88

Aeon's overdrive: 80

! - ! - !

Gippal raised the cannon in the air again, using his overdrive. A thick fire formed around the barrel, spewing off as he fired two Napalms out at the same time. They exploded with tremendous force, creating a shockwave that set everything on fire it sweat over from the chemicals. When he was done even the water was on fire.

A burning inferno surrounded them, even Penance was on fire.

"This is it..." Baralai's body started to glow as he used his overdrive to combine three spells, He combined an Ultima, Holy and Flare spell, creating a destructive power inside of himself.

Gippal instinctively covered his ears and closed his eyes when Baralai raise his hand.

In the blink of an eye everything went white, at first there was no sound. But then a deafeningly loud explosion followed. Just as quickly as it came, It faded. Now instead of one area, the whole thunder plane was on fire. Even the lighting rods were gone or half broken.

"That's it!"

Penance fell backwards, the large body falling to the ground. But something completely unexpected happened, The Epitaph burst through the mirror like body shattering on the ground, Yu Yevon's horn like appendages protruding visibly from the creature's head.

"What was that?" Gippal watched in amazement as the demon fly upward through the clouds and out of sight. "Oh man, We just barely won the last fight. Where is it going?"

Baralai could no longer see it, but judging from which direction it was taking... "It's……It's heading for the Calm lands. We have to warn Yuna!"

! - ! - !

"What do we do now?" Jecht helplessly watched the demon fly away, disappearing in to the clouds.

"We follow it." Braska said with a bit of contempt in his voice. With a nod the Faythe stood, nearly faltering at Braska's side. Then Inoringo easily transformed to the Aeon Bahamut, but no matter how easy it was to do so he was still weak. "Can you...Make it?"


	14. Chapter 13: Spira ‘s last battle: Part 1

Chapter 13: Spira 's last battle: Part 1

The sun was starting to rise over the calm lands, giving light to the dark plains. A figure drifted in front of the rising sun, casting a large shadow over the land, followed by a trail of Pireflies casting patchy, bubbles over the ground.

Yuna, Rikku and Pane gathered at the head of the crowd.

"What is that thing?" Rikku looked at the large figure coming closer to them, her hand lifted over his eyes to block out the glaring sun.

"It's looks like a Fiend." Paine watched as the shadow cast on the Calm lands started to gradually lessen. Yuna could tell from it's direction that it was coming there way, directly at the crowd.

"It's coming this way, we have to stop it!" Yuna shouted, it started to whip up a panic in the crowd.

Regardless of how the crowd was feeling, everyone was smart enough to say put and out of the way. "Ready?" Yuna asked.

"Yup!" Rikku was anxious.

"Let's go." Paine wasn't.

The mass of people cleared out of the way as Yuna, Rikku and Paine headed down the slope, in to the large, open space.

Cheers came from the crowd, cries of support showered the girls.

"Wow! We have an audience!" Rikku smiled brightly, waving to the crowd standing safely to her left.

Paine looked back at them, her eyebrows lifting with light questioning. "Is it just me or are they growing?"

"They must have came from Bevelle." Yuna reasoned.

_Arrff!_

A bark came from behind them, none of then were completely sure they had heard anything until that noise came again.

_Arrfff! _

Yuna knew she heard it that time. "Huh?" Yuna turned around, Rikku and Paine didn't seem to hear it because of the crowd.

A dog was running towards her, not just any dog though, it was an Aeon, Yojimbo's dog Daigoro.

Yuna knelt down and wrapped her arms around the dog with a light smile him, he let out a small growl and wagged his tail. "What are you doing here?" The fact that the Aeon was here brought a lot of questions. "Where's Yojimbo?"

She didn't have time to think up any answers, the fiend had arrived, and it was of course the demon Epitaph. But it stayed back safely passed the cliff, over the area where the Calm lands dropped off in to the ocean, staying out of reach.

Yuna stuck with the Gunner Dressphere, while Rikku changed to the Alchemist and Paine changed to the Gun mage. All three of them now had guns, which was the only way they were going to fight this thing.

"Whoa! It's so big!" Rikku looked at the monster who easily was larger then Bahamut, not sounding so confident anymore. With every Pireflies, it became larger and stronger, it was growing at a steady rate now, slow but growing.

Yuna used Quick trigger, firing a rapid spray of bullets that trailed up Epitaph's body, and in to the open mouth unable to close completely because of the oversized fangs. The demon growled with a hissing sound, firing a red ray out of it's mouth, sweeping it across the three of the swiftly and exploding in a burst of flames, creating a thick rain of dust and dirt that blocked their view.

Rikku raised the wielding gun, trying to track the demon's movement's through a barely seen shadow, but completely missed. "I can't see!"

Paine used the blue bullet Fire Breath, blowing out spray of fire from the special gun that cleared away the dust.

But the Epitaph fired another beam across the ground, putting more dust in the air.

Yuna coughed, lifting one hand to cuff it over his mouth and noise. "There's to much smoke...!" Yuna used the same strategy that Rikku used, tracking the demon from it shadow. Using scatter shot, she fired two bullets that burst and spread, finally connecting with something.

A red light laser shine through the dust, showering on all three of them from the Epitaph behind the could. Then the real laser fired, four of five of them in rapid precession that detonated in more burst explosions. The three of them where thrown backward through the smoke, landing on one of the soft patches of the Calm land still remaining..."Oww..." Yuna rubbed her head, smiling lighting as Daigoro came to her side with a small wine. "Don't worry about me, I'm alright."

Regaining herself, Paine used fire breath to clear away the dust, incinerating the partials hanging in the air and allowing a clear vision of the Demon ahead of them. "Rikku!"

"I got it!" Rikku, mixing together two grenades to create a Blaster mine, tossing the lit dynamite equivalent at the Epitaph. The small device sizzled as it soared through the air, bumping against the fiend's chest lightly, The explosion almost knocked it out of the air.

Flapping it's smoldering wings mainly to regain lost altitude, the demon created a strong wind, pulling up thick chunks of earth from the edge of the cliff and tossing a wall of rocks and dirt at the girls, striking them in the mass. Shaking the dust out of her hair, Yuna fired another wave of bullets with quick trigger, but it didn't seem to do any damage this time.

Rikku fired a blast shot from the wielding gun, but the usually powerful attack did absolutely nothing. "Huh? What's going on?" Rikku looked at the gun with the thought that maybe it was malfunctioning, Changing Dressphere to the thief.

"It's getting stronger! It must be the Pireflies." Paine changed Dressphere to the warrior.

The slightly larger Epitaph's laser swept across them, creating a massive explosion that created a fine line trailing where it had been. That one really hurt... Yuna aimed one of the pistols, using Cheap shot. The bullet seemed to do normal damage, especially compeered to the other attacks recently. "Ok, then we'll try something new!"

Rikku took two steps back and sprinted for the edge with her arms stretched out to her sides, jumping off the cliff as high as she could fearlessly. She landed on top of the Epitaph's head, holding on to the horns, stealing something from it, then she kicked off of it before it could catch her. Doing a back flip and slashing it across the face on her escape, The knives were sharp enough to do some damage. "What is this?" She manage to steal a black orb, what ever it was.

Paine's sword started to glow with an orange light from a charged attack, she took about 10 steps back, running at full speed and leaping off the edge. She placed one foot on the demon's torso, turning around and slashing it with Armor break as she did so, kicking off of it and making it back on to land with years of practice.

They could hear the crowd, which had grown a great deal since the last time they looked. All of those people, all were chanting loudly. "Gullwings! Gullwings!"

Yuna used quick trigger again, rapidly firing a hail of Bullets on to the demon. It was working, which each hit a small amount of Pireflies started to escape. All ready there was a storm of them streaming out of the demon, at this rate they would finish it off quickly.

About to lose, the Epitaph turned and fled, flying away.

But luckily the Celsius appeared over the horizon from Mt Gagazet, lowering right next to the girls. "Good news." Brother said triumphantly, "We finished early."

"Great timing!" Rikku shouted excitedly. The back hatch opened and Yuna, Rikku, and Paine climbed in, coming out on the deck a moment later.

"Gullwings! Gullwings!"

! - ! - !

Bahamut fell out of the sky, landing in the clam lands with a loud crash, sliding to a stop with enough force to leave a uprooted trail behind. Bahamut changing back in to Inoringo after using what little energy he had gained to chase after Yu Yevon, but he made it, it was just that the faythe wouldn't be fighting anytime soon.

This world was strange, it was exact _mirror_ of Spira, but they seemed to be only ones inside. How could a world like this exists out side of the Farplane, technically nothing should have been there, but yet this was. And why were they the only people here? And what was with the Sphere recorder thing? To many questions that none of them had answers to.

"Thank you." Braska thank the small boy, who almost fell asleep on the ground right there, but managed to nod in response. Looking toward the edge, they could see the Epitaph fleeing, but it wasn't real. It was transparent, a ghost. Just a refection of what had already changed dimensions. But what was real was Yu Yevon, in the center of the ghost.

Yevon separated from the Epitaph, coming back at them. It was still weak, barely able to regain enough strength that it could fight with. But with no more aeons, it was a waste of time...right? If there were no more aeons that could be possessed, why did it come back?

"How are you going to fight this thing?" Tidus asked, tired and nervous, more tired then anything else.

Braska looked at Jecht with an expression that usually only Auron could decipher, but this time he immediately knew what Braska was thinking. Jecht took a step back, lifting his hands defensively and shaking his head. "Hey Wait!"

"It's the only way."

"Isn't there" What was the point of fight it? "….Aright." Jecht gave up, knowing he would have to give in some time, what choice did he have. And being Braska's guardian he was obligated to listen to him right?

"Wait a minute." Tidus paused, looking at Braska. "If Yevon came back this time? What's stopping it from coming back again after we beat it?" That was a good question, what was stopping it from coming back? The void that Tidus and Jecht on their arrival to the Farplane and the return of the Aeons created was still open, as long as both of them were dead it would remain.

"We have to close that void." Braska said with agreement, they couldn't allow Yevon to slip through the same hole over and over. The problem was that none of them knew how, but they would have to figure that out later, right now they had something more important.

Braska held the staff in both hands in front of him, his body glowing with the familiar gathering of MP.

Jecht recognized that glow and that tone of voice enough to realize what Braska was planning to do and what he himself would have to do. The only thing was that the last time he did this it didn't end well. "You wont die this time will you?" Jecht's sudden outburst made Braska laugh a little.

"Whoa!" Tidus looked around the eerily Calm lands with the Sphere recorder in his hand, able to see hundreds and hundreds of people gathered near the exit on that incline leading up to it, all cheering. "What's going on out there?"

A strong energy started to course through Jecht's body, a palpitating red light growing brighter and with each pulsation, as walked toward edge of the Calm lands. "Here goes nothing..." Jecht slipped a finger under the head band he wore and scratched a random spot lightly, a small nervous habit he'd gained, before he silently stretched his arms outward and let his body fall off. Which was followed by a earthquake as Braska's Final Aeon emerged. Jecht could almost still be recognized in the Aeon, the red band was still around his head, the familiar tattoo across his chest, and the now gray mustache around his mouth. It even still had the same sword, only much larger.

Shuyin had a considerably tougher time trying to protect him from possession.

Yu Yevon swarmed towards Jecht, digging it's claws into Jecht's chest in an attempt to enter, trying to control him, Shuyin tried to force it back but he was failing. The Aeon lifted the sword, slapping down Yevon with the broad edge and smashing it to the ground. Yevon fluttered back, recovering from the blow.

The black haze surrounding Yevon became more and more intense, dispelling dark waves that the Aeon blocked with his sword. The Aeon controller became more aggressive in it's attacks. This time dispelling a black mist that swept over Jecht with no chance of being evaded, covering him with a black acidic, oil like liquid. Just as two pillars appeared next to Yevon, casting curative magic.

Braska pointed his staff at Yevon, casting zombie on him and turning the curing magic against him.

Jecht, after trying his best to remove the liquid from his body, lifted his clawed hand, slashing Yevon and the two pillars in a single swipe and turning the pillars in to crumbled dust with powerful attack. The weakened Yu Yevon was no match.

Yevon unleashed another wave of darkness outward from it's body, which Jecht blocked again with his sword.

There couldn't have been a better time..."Jecht! Now!" Braska shouted.

Aeon's Overdrive: 100

Jecht lifted the clawed hand in to the air above his head, clinching it in to a fist much larger then the one holding the sword. The air around the hand distorted and rippled like water, spreading outward until it passed over the calm lands in one uninterrupted sweep, prorogating a new reality, which was an endless black void. A ring of electricity surrounded the clawed hands, it moved with him when he drew the claws back and drove them forward in to Yevon. The ground shook violently when a powerful explosion erupted, sending out multiple shockwaves forced and discharged sparks of electricity, push anyone even remotely in range away from the blasting zone and Yu Yevon.

Yevon was defeated easily, but it went out with force, spewing out thick black flames upon self-destructing that left the Aeon's body in a blaze of the odd fire.

With a loud roar, Pireflies started to rise out of the Aeon also ablaze, and it disappeared, leaving Jecht behind, falling to the ground weakly, seemingly unconscious.

"Jecht..." Auron drove his sword in to the ground and extended his arms with his head titled upward, he was able to catch him. Auron laid him down and patting out the black flames covering his body.

Jecht rubbed his head lightly, seemingly unable to open his eyes despite his visible efforts. His lips parted just enough for him to mumble.

"I'm pretty sure...that it's Auron standing over me..."

"Heh, you know me too well."

"Did….I get him?"

"Yeah." Auron said in his usual voice, but it held soft undertones that only someone who'd known him closely would be able to detect it. It was enough to make Jecht laugh.

"I'm sorry Jecht but...I…Don't think so…" Braska pointed a rip that appeared in thin air before them, from there Yu Yevon squeezed through. But just as weak as it was before, it could barely move.

"ButBut How!" Tidus looked on as Yevon struggled to stay a float, moving in a twitching and erratic manner.

"The void, as long as it's open, Yu Yevon will keep coming." He was sure of it now, sure of what he already knew. Braska finally understood what had to happen. "One of you is keeping the void open, so that means"

"One of you has to go back…." Shuyin explained, his voice tired as if all he wanted to do was sleep, but after exerting what little of his powers so extensively that was all he wanted to do. He understood it, the void opened up when he brought the aeon's back, the aeons and Tidus. The hole could be at lest patched if one of them...

Tidus drove his sword down into the ground and walked over to Shuyin, tilting his head downward to look at him face to face since Shuyin was hunching over slightly. "What do you mean 'go back' ?"

"One of you has to go back to Spira or be destroyed, that's the only way to stop Yevon for good." There was no point in saying 'killed', they were already dead.

Tidus rubbed his head nervously, his eyes trembling as he took a step back. "We have to do this now?"

Shuyin nodded. "I can't keep Yevon from possessing any more Aeons, and it's after you two."

"It can't wait?"

Shuyin shook his head again. "No. If I we wait it's just gonna posses one of you, I can't keep going like this, I don't have the power I used to." He felt like an old man saying this.

"He's right..." Inoringo stumbled his way over to Shuyin, knowing that he couldn't do it alone. Nearly falling, the faythe grabbed on to Shuyin's wrist and caught himself. The boy looked at Tidus then at Jecht with glances hidden by the hood over his head. "So which one of you do we send back?"


	15. Chapter 14: Spira’s last battle: Part 2

Chapter 14: Spira's last battle: Part 2

Yevon slowly drifted towards them with the same slow and erratic movements, it was going after either Jecht or Tidus, all of this depended on which one of them it was actually going for. If they sent back the wrong one, the hole would remain open, Yevon would eventually kill them in there weakened stated and would never be stopped. So it all came down to on choice, and it was up to Shuyin.

"You have to chose, we don't have much time!" Braska prompted him to make his choice, judging from Yevon's distance and closing in speed they had 10 seconds at the most.

10

Shuyin looked around nervously, he didn't want to do this, he really didn't want to do this! "What if I chose the wrong one!"

9

Tidus shrugged unknowingly, "What if you chose the right one."

8

"I-I can't deicide." Shuyin's mind raced, he was never faced with this type of decision. If he sent Jecht back his decision would be heavily biased towards his love for Tidus, what if that didn't work?. But if he sent Tidus back and it didn't work...

7

"Yes you can!" Braska tried to encourage but his voice came out unintentionally forceful, he couldn't help it, they didn't have time...

6

Tidus sighed, looking up seriously at the identical man. "Shu, Just chose." Tidus told him, he wouldn't hold it against him if it didn't work, he just hoped Shuyin understood that.

5

4

3

2

1

Shuyin stared at Tidus...then lowered his head, not moving until the last second. He ran towards Tidus, wrapping his arms around the boy and hugging him as tightly, pulling him in to a kiss. Knowing what was happening, Tidus kissed back, his arms making there away around Shuyin's back. It was quite possibly the best kiss he'd ever had, there was so much energy flowing through it that Tidus knew he wasn't imagining. His body glowed in the yellow aura of Shuyin's power, Pireflies drifting through his body in a ghost like manner... and he felt every bit of it. He could also feel Yu Yevon's claws digging into his back.

Seeing that the choice had been made, Inoringo finished the process with what little strength he'd had left. With the combination surrounding, Tidus faded in Shuyin's arms, leaving him standing there alone, with no trace of Yevon to be found.

! - ! - !

"It's gaining power! If we can't stop it from absorbing Pireflies, we won't be able to stop it at all!" Paine shouted over the howl of wind driving past them as the Celsius raced through the air after the Epitaph. It had regained it's power at lest 10 fold by now, not to mention grown a whole lot larger nearly one and a half the size of the ship.

The Pireflies stopped flowing in to the demon, drifting of their own accord... With out Yevon's power, it could draw them in nor use it.

That was the good news, but unfortunately, it was still faster then them, and had gained a good lead. Now flying over the city of Bevelle, a red been was charging in it's open mouth.

"Oh no! Brother, quick shoot it!" Rikku yelled, crouching down low on the deck to keep from slipping to far in either direction.

"No Go! If we fire from here, we'll hit the temple." Brother declined

"_It's_ going to hit the temple!" Rikku replied, "You have to do risk it!"

From behind the temple a ship rose, a Bevelle army ship, they wouldn't have to make that decision. On the deck were none other then Gippal and Baralai, and they were close enough to the demon to fire the guns with out striking anything else. And that's just what it did, blazing two machine guns mounted on the in to it's open mouth. The didn't hit, The Epitaph rolled to the side just enough to evade the line of fire, but a much more accurate drill shot from Baralai did, dispelling the laser in a quick flash of red and driving the demon back with a scorched mouth.

"Hey! It's Gippal! And Baralai!" Rikku shouted excitedly.

"Good timing!" Yuna cheered.

"Need some help?" Gippal give a quick mock salute to the girls and lifted his cannon towards the demon with one hand.

"We have to get it away from Bevelle!" Baralai drove his staff into the ground before him, using it to keep himself steady as he firing more drill shots from his pistol.

The army ship was black with a round body, flat top and the engines laying in front of the boosters in the tail. On the sides near the front were two machine guns mounted, more weapons held inside. The ship lined up beside the Celsius and both ships fired quickly calibrated and targeted guns at it. For a moment the consecutive fire it looked ineffective, but the Epitaph began to flee again, meaning it could only mean it hurt.

It was faster then both of their ships, it was already at the City limits while they were only half way across Bevelle's radius. The Epitaph turned back towards them and beat it's wings furiously. A swirl of howling wind formed in to a tornado that rush strait at them, ripping out any part of Bevelle in it's way, and the more it destroyed the dark and more visible it became . With both sets of guns still firing, they were able to disperse the tornado before it hit them.

"Oh man!" Baralai clinched his head and shouted nervously. "No, no, no!" He couldn't help but feel disappointed when he starred at the dug through trail of destruction left behind.

Two more closely tied tornados came driving toward them, much to Bevelle's and the lives in it's path's expense, working separately the two airships where barely able to disburse them with the winds dawning over them.

"Finally, we're out of the city!" Baralai slumped with a small sigh of relief, he couldn't help but look back disheartened at the sections taken out by just two attacks.

"It's heading towards Dosje temple" Paine called over two the ship working in their concession.

"We have until to blow this thing up!" Brother called from the bridge, arming the missiles now that they were safely out of residential areas and over the bare rocky terrain in-between. The Bevelle army ship did the same.

A narrowly long rocket fired from the army airship, but a well placed laser from the backwards flying demon took care of that. The Celsius fired off two missile directly afterwords the Epitaph stopped in mid flight. Flapping the large wings once more to send a wave of wind that destroyed the two attacks, but it's pause allowed both ships to catch up.

Both ships to a different side along the demon, to close to fire anything heavier then the guns. Yuna use a cheap shot bullet, that hit the right wing and going through it's defenses, While Baralai, used drill shot to do the same. The ships on the other hand had to break through with continuous fire from the guns.

Paine changed to the gun mage, using a garment grid that allowed her to use her warrior abilities. She charged a Armor break in to a bullet, giving it's properties an orange glow, then striking it directly in the head with the piercing shot. It caused a few Pireflies started to escape from the creature.

"HOLD ON!" Brother shouted, pulling the ship in to a sudden drop downwards to avoid a red ay from the Demon's mouth. It ended up grazing over the top of the deck despite his best attempt to completely avoid, creating a strong blast along the ship's noise and a wave of flames that almost knocked the girls off. But it didn't do to much to the armor since it could be compared to a bullet burn.

Gippal used Power Break, pacing a foot back to account for recoil when firing a bright red beam with a sporadically flicker to it into the at the demon's chest. It roared loudly, taking a foreseeable dip in elevation from that attack. Epitaph countered, pulling both of it's out stretched hands back and thrust them forward, sending a shockwave of electrified of air that traveled over the ship similar to a ripple spreading over water. Though the attack didn't appear very strong it hurted anyone outside the protection of their respective ships, good thing for Gippal and Baralai, there were rails in place to keep them from falling. "Nhadala, Any damage?" Gippal called out to the cockpit through one of the external microphones, she was the one piloting the ship.

"Not to the shields, but it almost fried our controls."

The Epitaph turned back forward and shot forward, gaining speed to getting ahead of the two ships that had come dangerously. "Don't count on getting away that easily!" Gippal tilted the cannon completely upright, green embers spewing outwards as a mortar was shot out, landing the demon in the back in an explosion of more emerald flames and loud screeches. "I think we have a weak spot!"

"No Missiles! Too close to the Dosje Temple!" Brother shouted loudly through the speakers, loud enough for his voice to echo off the canyon walls bellow them, it was back to guns.

The began to fly backwards, a red light shining from it's clawed hands cuffed before it's torso, the red light was followed by a considerably large red beam ray that devoured the Celsius completely.

"Can they survive something like that?" Baralai cast a protect spell over the whole Celsius, he was quite possibly the only person in Spira with enough skill to do so. He did it effectively too, surrounded by the blue light of the spell the Celsius elevated out from the beam, smoking amd missing a few pieces, but still flying.

"Hey! Are you guys Ok?" Gippal called over, watching Yuna, Rikku and Paine make it to their feet smoldering as just as much as the ship.

"Ow!" Rikku shouted, picking up the blast gun from the ground.

Paine growled in evident anger as she dusted away any stray molecules in her hair "I'm alright, but that thing wont be.".

"It's getting awayyyyy!" Brother shouted. "Quick, Shinra, What should we do?"

"Um, ………I'm just a kid."

"NAAAAA!"

The Epitaph over the temple in question, sensing that there were Pireflies inside the. It was greedy, that was it's weakness, it was clear now that the fiend was heading for the place that had a substantial number of Pireflies good enough to absorb. It began to charge a crimson blast in it's mouth, now that it wasn't moving, they easily caught up to it.

The Celsius and the army ship began firing the machine guns again, Gippal aiming the cannon strait in to the air. Firing an intensely bright white flare into the sky that erupted on it's back with white flames. Because of either the bright light or the attack itself, the ray in it's mouth fired off course. Hitting the canyon instead behind the gray structure instead and sending a rain of boulders and flames descending over the temple.

Baralai fired used his pistol and a few well placed drill shots to destroy the rocks, Gippal using the Glatting gun on his own weapon to try in assist. But they could only take out so many with out missing or causing damage when they tried not to. "We have to get this thing away from here!" Gippal yelled down to Nhadala. On his command the army ship moved in front of the Epitaph and over the Temple, firing the dual machine guns directly at it's head, along with another Power Break in the form of an flickering yellow from Gippal.

As expected the large demon came after them. The ship glided sideways away from the canyon wall and when it was over mushroom rock road it backed away from the temple as bait, but the chasing monster was swift , bringing Baralai and Gippal face to face with the yellow skinned Epitaph. "Man...that thing is so huge." Gippal started to draw Energy in to the cannon, watching a red light form in the demon's mouth. being up close was the only way to realize how large it actually was, with more Pireflies it could rival Sin.

Baralai held on tightly to his embedded staff and expended his hand toward it. "Flare!" A rush of intense Flames devoured the demon's torso from Baralai's Flare spell, but it wasn't enough to stop the beam in it's mouth from firing. A very thin red beam swept along the deck, followed by an un proportionately large pillar of flames that threw the both of them flying backwards, almost off the vessel. The front of the airship tipped downward nearly in to a nosedive, but it was able to recover and regain balance.

"Damnit!" Gippal frantically padded out the flames on his left shoulder, holding his badly burned torso as he stumbled back to the center along with Baralai at his side.

"No!" The demon grabbed on to the noise of the ship, it's claws digging into the hull just in front of the two, pulling the ship downward. Taking hold of his staff again, Baralai began to cast another spell. "Holy!" The thick rays of light came shining down from the sky, knocking the demon back and forcing it to release the ship "Nhadala? Are we alright?"

"Not really! That last attack cut right through to the cockpit, those claws didn't help, and that explosion took some things out."

"Can we still fly?" Gippal asked, dropping down to one knee with the heavy weapon sagging off of his left shoulder. The smoke rising out of the holes created by the demon's claws couldn't be a good thing.

"Yes... Not very long though, even shorter if we keep going at full speed."

Gippal gave a small look over to Baralai who shared that same thought, it was just as well, they had rushed headfirst in to this fight already weak from their last, they wouldn't be of use for much longer. "Alright, just go as long as you can."

They didn't notice that were heading right over the Mihen High Road. It was filled with people, and on top of that, there was a hidden cave under the High Road, fill to the brim with Pireflies. Of course that's where it was headed!

With Epitaph's high speed it had gotten there before they did, a ray already charged in it's mouth powerful enough to make the air around it distort. If that attack penetrated deep enough the whole place could sink in on itself , especially in such a central location, it seemed that this was the end of the High Road…….. Until Cid's ship arose from some place buried in the old road, Maroda and Rin already on the rounded deck. A volley of small missiles fired from the side in a trail of white smoke, lining up it's chest and trailing into it's open mouth, taking the charged attack with it.

"What are you guys doing here!" Yuna asked in mild surprise and excitement, they had just come in the nick of time.

"Saving the High Road of course." Maroda's hands posed on his hips, his head tilted upward with a playful arrogance.

"You look like you needed help." Rin gave wave and a light grin, lifting a riffle with a few bulky attachments to it. One of them was a box laying under the barrel with three dipswitches on either side, his finger slipped upward enough to flip one of the switches before pulling the trigger and firing a incisionitory white ray at the demon. The white ray was like wielding a long sword, it was combined with gun fire from all three ships along with it's passengers.

Pireflies started to rise from it's body, causing the howling demon to shrink and grew weaker. Seeing that it wouldn't get anywhere staying here, the Demon retreated.

It was much slower now, enough for them to catch up with it. Cid's ship came from the right, the Celsius from the left and Nhadala from behind. They were to close to each other for the ships themselves to actually fire anything since they would surely hit one another, but the positive side to it was that it, it was 6 too 1.

Yuna began using Quick trigger, aiming for the demon's head, while Rikku kept firing with the blast gun and Paine used Armor break. Baralai was close enough to cast Mighty Guard on all of them while Gippal fired the attack he'd been charging. "You guys better get out of the way!" Gippal place a foot back as he fired, a large white ray that was bigger then the Cannon it self and hard to use and keep himself from flying over the side of the ship at the same time. It struck the demon on the side of it's stomach, almost forcing it to crash in to the Celsius along side.

It roared out loudly, the yellow scales blackened and bloody.

Rin continued to fire the white rays, thrusting the particle sword in to the injured part of it's side enough to draw a stream of blood from the wound. Maroda relied on spells with his monk skills, casting a Thundaga spell that sent a large pillar of golden lighting streaming down on it's back and caused it to lose a considerable amount of altitude.

"We're coming over water!" Brother yelled.

"Everybody! Move Back!" On Buddy's command, all three ships pulled away as soon as they came over the ocean of water, drift a considerable distance.

"Oh man, we're not going to make it to shore." Gippal dropped down to one knee again, leaning against the cannon. "I don't wanna crash over water, I'm to tired to swim."

The Epitaph fired another ray, sweeping it over all three ships.

"Alright, time blow this thing out of the sky!" Cid howled with excitement, firing out every bit of artillery he had. A stream of missiles came from under the deck on both sides, leaving countless white streaks of smoke behind. The Bevelle Army ship followed suit and launched some considerably bigger missiles, about 10 or 12 of narrow rockets.

"KaBOOM!" A very excited Brother dropped 6 large canisters from the bottom of the Celsisus in rapid succession, all of them Radars miles, which dropped it's shell and released in to a replicating swarm that looked like 6 thousand.

All three ships pulled back even farther as the jungle of missiles strike at the same time, growing into a massive explosion, ear deafening, overpoweringly bright one that that swept back waves of water in all direction with huge, white streaking, shockwaves.

But, it wasn't over yet, the Epitaph had a final attack if you could call it that. It was essentially a mirror, that's what it was made of and that's what it did, so as the mirror shattered it reflected the explosion back with a lot more power.

Suddenly the explosion started to spread outward at a freighting rate, it was coming back at them. Incinerating anything in it's path.

"What the" Gippal watched as the fiery maelstrom coming closer, that's when they all realized that they needed to move. "Oh...my god..."

All three ships turned and headed back for land at full speed, with the burning explosion chasing after them so close that they could barely see from the light. "We won't make it!" Maroda shouted, noticing it was coming to fast. "We have to stop that thing!"

"How!" Rikku shouted over the loud eruption.

"Water!" Baralai called out, his answer couldn't be heard, so he just cast the spell. The large Bubble of water was absorbed in to the flames, they needed more, a lot more, their ship was halfway in.

Yuna, Rikku and Paine changed from the Gunner to the Black Mage, doing the same and casting an army of Water spells. Maroda joined in too, and soon they had a wall of water standing against the explosion. Fighting it back and slowing it down with each spell, it had already evaporated enough water to create a hurricane.

The fiery storm slowed to a stop and died off, just as they got over land. The Bevelle army ship was already smoking badly, an explosion being heard audibly from engine room, the only reason it had made it here already was because it had been carried on the force of the explosion. So finally the ship gave out and made a sharp decent to the ground, luckily landing on it's side and not the noise.

Gippal grabbed Baralai just as he was about to fall, he in turn head on to his staff... After nearly being knocked out by the impact and managing to keep balance as the ship slowed to a stop, half of it in flames.

Gippal allowed himself to slide down to the ground, catching Baralai who fell trying to unwedge his staff.

Baralai smirked with a sigh of relief, "Thanks." He showed his graduate with a small kiss on Gippal's cheek.

Gippal dropped to the ground, his back falling against the upturned hull of the ship. "This as been one hell of the week. What, we helped save the world, 2 times."

"2 and a half if you count Angra Mainyu." Baralai allowed himself to fall into Gippal's lap, nearly passing out from his own weakness.

"A half? Why a half?"

"I don't know, it seemed like a half ."

"Well the big mirror thing had to be another 1. Give it another 10 minutes and it would have another Sin."

"That would be a half." Baralai his eyes drifting closed and his head inanely falling back to Gippal's shoulder.

"Why?"

"Summoner Braska, remember ?"

"Oh yeah, So that make it an even 3." Gippal seemed satisfied with himself, watching the rest of the sun rise over the ocean of Kilika's coast as if they hadn't just crashed and nearly fell to their deaths on several occasions during which. "Baralai."

"Huh?"

Gippal rested his head back against the ruined ship, his gaze drifting up to the sky. "It's over, don't worry about it. You can fall asleep."

Baralai was too weak to really protest, but his will wouldn't let him sleep. "Are you sure...?"

"I got you, don't worry about it."

"Gippal...you can barely walk."

"You underestimate me." Gippal laughed. "You worry to much...just go to sleep."

"...Hn."

! - ! - !


	16. Chapter 15 Farplane Sphere

Chapter 15: Farplane Sphere

Well it seemed that the speech in Luca, wasn't postponed, Nooj felt they should do it a soon as possible, considering what had just happened. Needless to say that any unpopular opinions about Gippal and Baralai's disappearance were shattered by the events in the last two days.

With all of that having been thought of and said, they ended up having it at noon that same day.

All three of them stood in front of a crowd of thousands of people.

Nooj took one final look around Luca's stadium, staring at the near silent mass before he started "Once, my friends and I dreamed of flying, we would sail a ship with me as its captain. In time, I became that captain, I found a new ship with new friends. My ship was the Youth League."

"Others chose a different captain, their boat was New Yevon." Baralai said.

"You know, I realize I'm like a lot of you people... We want a captain, and we want a ship to ride, but more important than that...Really, we all want to ride together." Gippal said.

"There are some things you can't do alone. But they become easy with friends beside you." Baralai said this indicating Nooj and Gippal, more so Gippal.

"This was the lesson we learned when we launched those ships." Nooj continued.

"It was power.. and we misused that power. We turned our friends and followers against each other." Baralai sighed. "Forgive us."

Taking a step back, the three of them bowed apologetically to the roaring crowd as well as all of Spira. "Somehow we forgot...There's a much larger ship out there, one we've been riding ever since we were born. That ship is Spira."

"No one knows just where our voyage will lead us, but I do know one thing. One way or another, we will get by, we'll go on living. The calm _will_ continue." Nooj's words got a cheer from the crowd .

"Just one more thing; We all owe thanks to a very special lady." Gippal said, and of course they did considering every bit of help they had with Veganagun and all the chaos that ensued afterwords.

! - ! - !

The lady in question stood at the edge of Luca docks, her hands resting behind her back as her peered out on to the water and the approaching Celsius. With all of her thoughts concluded and feeling that she finally had a sense of closure to everything, Yuna turned around, facing Rikku and Paine who were waiting peaceably behind her. "It's time for me to go home."

! - ! - !

"She left a message, she said she's going home. So farewell, but not goodbye." Gippal relayed to them and as if on cue, the Celsius rose from behind the stadium.

Brother screaming loudly "See you next time, kiddies! Yeehaw!" before accelerating and ascending at full speed, fast enough to quickly leave everything else behind.

Yuna, Rikku and Paine watched the stadium's fleeting form through the passing clouds and flowing ocean beneath them. "Did we really have to leave like that? Just think of the party we are missing!" Rikku wined, just imaging the food that would be there...man she was hungry.

Paine glanced over at Rikku with an amused look on her face. "I think we party enough, don't you?"

Maybe they had 'partied' enough, Yuna didn't much feel like sticking around anyway...though there was something missing. "Brother!" Yuna shouted "Higher!"

"Roger!" Brother called back, ascending the ship upward in to the clouds.

"Brother, faster!"

"Rogerr!"

The Celsius increased in speed, making the clouds beside them appear as though a blur.

"I can't hear you!"

"Rogerrrrr!"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Tidus's eyes shot open, finding himself curled up and his knees drawn up in to his arms in a subconscious protective position. 'Wha...?' He lifted his head out of his lap, looking around with blurry vision, he was in water……and Yu Yevon was gone.

'Where ...am I?" Letting his body uncurl, Tidus instinctively swam toward the surface with muscles worn from previously strenuous use. His head pierced of the water with a loud splash and a deep breath. He immediately looking around at his surroundings andsaw nothing but clear blue water in front of him.

Turning around he saw a beach, a familiar beach that he couldn't quite remember... 'Where am I……What happened? Shu…must have actually sent me back.' He though as he the walk towards the shallow water and white sands of land, Tidus could remember Shuyin's final words before everything had gone black. Now they just echoed through out his mind in a most haunting almost taunting ring. 'He told me…'

A spray of water washed over him in a large volume from behind, effectively knocking him out of his racing thoughts at the moment.

"Huh?" He turned around and saw the Celsius descending above the water, the back gate open. Standing in the door was none other then Yuna, who jumped out of the airship at the sight, sloshing through the waist high waters until she made her way over to the boy. There was a light pause as she stared at him, just to make sure that he was actually real before throwing her arms around his neck with a happy cry, almost unable to believe what was happening.

It looked like Inoringo had made good on his promise.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Tidus, Yuna and all of Besaid along with Rikku sat around a roaring flames mounted in the center of the village as Yuna went into great detail to tell Tidus everything that had happened... with a little help from Rikku of course. It was nightfall now, the time seemed to had passed by so quickly, and everyone was so engrossed in the story that they barely noticed.

"Sounds hard." Tidus crossed his stretched out legs, propping his elbows on to his knees and resting his head in his hands. He felt the urge to stretch out after sitting for so long, but he was too tired to get up and do so.

"It was." Yuna agreed modestly, sitting beside him.

After hearing everything for the second time, Rikku had begun to put some things together that she hadn't really thought about before. "That sphere we found near the Farplane, you know, after it blew up and all. We heard you on it, what was that?"

"Sphere….?"

"Auron was on it too!"

"Auron……Oh that." Tidus finally realized what she had been talking about, how could he forget the whole sphere recorder thing? "It's a long story. Sure you wanna hear it?" Tidus asked, not so much as a preemptive but because he didn't feel like explaining it at the moment.

"There's no short version?"

Could he explain it in a short, condensed version? Tidus shook his head. "It wouldn't make sense then."

With another glance up at the sky and a quick assessment of her curiosity, Rikku agreed "Oh, Alright."

Tidus began telling the story of what happened to him, sure to leave out the part about him and Shuyin, for Yuna's sake. The whole thing took about 20 minutes as far as Tidus had counted. And by then, Paine was walking through the gates of Besaid.

"Paine? Your back?" Yuna inquired, with the thought that she had left the island already.

Paine stood over Yuna's shoulder, one hand coming to rest on her hip as she looked around at the gathered crowd, taking special notice to a half sleep Wakka laying behind Tidus. "I dropped by Bevelle, Baralai told me to give you these….." Paine retrieved 2 spheres from her inventory, placing the golden orbs into Yuna's lap.

"What's on them?"

"I don't know, he said he found them on the Thunder planes..." Paine hadn't bothered to watched them, she decided to wait until she got back here.

"Let's watch them."


	17. Chapter 16 Farplane sphere part 2

Chapter 16: Farplane sphere part 2

"Well, it's not broken." Jecht's voice could be heard, flipping pointing the sphere recorder around as if he was looking for it on it. At the moment nothing could be distinguished on it but blurs, it seem that they were still in the 'thunder planes'.

"Well, what do we do now, the Farplane is gone..." Braska asked knowing that every one else had just as much of an idea on what to do as he died. The view was pointed upward looking at the now clear sky, one of the rare moments that the thunder planes were.

"We can't stay here." Shuyin grunted, he was sitting on the ground, not exactly sure what to do with himself. Now that Tidus was gone, he was, well... depressed.

"You got any ideas?" Jecht asked, pointing the recorder at Shu.

"He's right, It's too dangerous here." Auron agreed, looking around as if on guard for something though there was nothing around.

Jecht wondered why Auron was so tense, tense enough to even have his hand resting on his sword. "What's with you?"

"The demon was a mirror."

"So?"

"So what he means" Braska explained "Is that this world is also a mirror."

Jecht became confused. "How can this whole place be a mirror?" He asked, the view tilted downward as he stomped down on the ground "Feels real to me."

"This place was never real, it was just something the Epitaph created." Inoringo cut in, sitting beside Shuyin with his back resting against Shuyin's arm and his head resting weakly on the man's shoulder.

"Ok…..Why?" A question Jecht knew he wouldn't get an answer to, one of many that already floated between them.

"So the question is, how do we get out?" Braska asked.

Shuyin didn't exactly see the rush...was this a time to rush? "Do we really want to get out?"

"What do you mean?"

"There is no way we can be in Spira, we'd have seen people... and the Farplane is completely destroyed. So where are we?" Jecht shifted the camera around again at the solemn group, no wonder Auron was so cautious. "Let's just get the hell out of here already."

"It's not that easy." Inoringo denied. "If this place is a mirror, the only way to get out is to break through it. But even if we do, we don't know what's _beyond_ that."

"Then we'll just have to find out." Jecht wasn't worried about it, it couldn't be too bad right?

"Yes, we can't stay here. It's too dangerous...we don't know what could happen next in this place." Braska was sure of that much. "Shuyin, you think you have enough power to do it?" He asked.

"No... But there probably is another way." Shuyin was weak, using that much power up in such a short period of time, he was tapped out and would be for a while.

"If it's a mirror, it has to end some where, doesn't it?" Braska reasoned, looking towards the horizon.

"That could be anywhere." The Faith didn't seem to have his usual confidence, this seemed to be a complete mirror of Spira, they might have to go all the way to Zanarkand for all they knew.

"It also has to start someplace." Auron said, still looking around.

"What do you mean?"

"If all of _this_ came from the Farplane, that's where the mirror had to start." Auron was right, the answer could be closer then they thought.

On Auron's idea, they headed back to Guadosalam, climbing to the entrance of the Farplane with Inoringo now in control of the camera.

"This is definitely it." Shuyin said, noticing the obvious difference in the gate. It was like a pane of glass that held a slightly opaque over mirror, with darkness behind it. Strangely enough, it only reflected them. Not the surrounding city, creating an eerie effect.

"So what now?" Jecht reach out and touched the mirror, he could see his reflection doing the same "What the hell!" The reflection leaned forward grabbed him by his hand and pulled him inside.

"Jecht!" Braska was the first to run up to the mirror, but found it to be more solid then expected, more so then it had been for Jecht who had been helplessly forced through. He tried to strike it with his staff, but a reflection of the staff met him and countered.

"Fire!" He tried a basic spell, but it was reflected back on to him. Quickly brushing away the flames from the previous burst of heat, He cast dispel, but it also was reflected back on to him.

Jecht looked back past the mirror where his friends lay at bay on the other side, with himself trapped on this one. His attention was more focused on the copy of himself that stood in front of him, that had pulled him in here in the first place...this was creepy. "Mirror huh?" Jecht snorted, lifting his sword, and the reflection did the same in the exact same way. Every motion he made, every subtitle shift, even his breathing was mimicked by the copy. Jecht lifted his sword above his head about to strike, then stopped. The reflection was still mimicked, lifting it's sword. Jecht lowered his sword and the reflection did the same as well. But now it kept raising it's sword and lowering it.

It could only do what Jecht did. "What's with this thing?"

"It's a fiend!" Braska pressed his hands against the opaquely reflective barrier separating them, attempting to push through it "This whole place is a mirror, it's a mirror too."

Now he had to find out what it couldn't copy, and if it was anything like the Epitaph... Jecht lifted his hand, his sword coming to rest over his shoulder "Dispel!"

The mirror did the same, casting dispel on Jecht, where it had no effect on Jecht, it was destroyed by the spell... Simple enough. "That was easy?...Huh?" Jecht turned around, hearing a loud buckling sound from the mirror and unsure if that was a good or bad thing for him. Questioningly, he tapped his finger against the mirror, only to be pulled back through to the other side.

It now had a large crack down the middle.

"Uh...ok?" Jecht stumbled a few steps before he caught his balance again, then reassured Braska that he was fine. "What next?" Jecht asked, his eyes fixed on the mirror. He noticed it showed everyone's refection except his, that had to mean something...

"I think I may have miscounted." Shuyin said, examining the mirror himself just to see if he could find something else unusual about it. "There were three fiends this whole time, Yu Yevon, Epitaph, and this mirror...or what ever is creating it."

"So everything really _is _working against us?" Inoringo asked, a twinge of annoyment or anger in his voice. "How are we supposed to fight our surroundings?"

"We don't." Braska declined. "We're already at the mirror's source, I'm sure the mirror doesn't persist after this point..." Braska gave a small nod to Shuyin and the both of them attempted to go through to the other side...it didn't work. "Looks like we'll have to go through one by one, and judging by how Jecht fought and the results." Braska indicated the large crack in the mirror's surface. "It seems the only way to destroy the mirror is to beat it's reflections, one at a time..." Braska was getting a familiar sinking feeling.

"I'll go." Auron volunteered, hosting his sword off the ground and over his shoulder as he walked towards the mirror. He touched it first, confirming something while noting it wasn't as solid as it had been when Shuyin and Braska tried it, then proceed through.

Auron peered at the reflection waiting for him with a similar posture, and in the interest of time he lifting the sword with both hands in to a ready position. He watched the reflection do the same with out delay. 'Hmm...' From watching Jecht's fight he figured the only way to beat it was to use something it couldn't copy... 'Something it can't...the Epitaph.'

It's mirror was just like the Epitaph's mirrors, which also must have meant that what ever was creating these mirrors must have helped the epitaph, and just like then there was always one thing it couldn't reflect.

The black metal of Auron's sword began reradiate the energy of his holy sword, ability making the large black blade glow a faint white while the reflection's sword did nothing. Auron charged at the copy, it doing the same, lifted the sword over his head and brought it down on the reflection. His sword connected with copy's, exactly at the blade with an accuracy that could only come for a mirror. "Damnit!" Auron raised his other hand to the dull edge of his sword and it against the reflection's, hoping to over power it, but failed.

Finally realizing this after a few seconds he jumped back out of the way, the reflection stayed in place, lifting the sword above it's head and bringing it down on to Auron. Auron steeped out of the way of the slow attack, ending up to the side of mirror. He thrust his sword forward at the copy with a loud grunt, but it jumped back exactly as Auron had just done. Auron crouched lightly and swept his sword across the ground, the copy brought it's sword from over his head and stuck the side of Auron's, stopping the attack.

Auron couldn't hurt but smirk as a wave of black energy reradiated from his sword from a darkness attack. The sudden wave swept the copy off it's feet, allowing Auron raised the large sword unhindered and smashed the copy with holy sword. Shattering in to a thousand pieces and fading...

"Hm…Not bad." Jecht snorted adamantly, Auron gave a small nod in response, watching more cracks grow from the large one in branches.

"Well, looks like I'm next. " Shuyin mumbled soberly, walking in to the half broken mirror with a tight grip on the handle of his sword to meet his reflection. He tried his best to think of something that the mirror couldn't copy, but with his powers drained, there was nothing he could do. Well he could always out smart it, how hard could it be.

He watched the mirror walk toward him just as he approached it, until finally they met face to face. Shuyin tossed his sword to the other hand, the tossed it back, watching as the copy did the same, then after a few seconds repeating the only action reflected to it. Shuyin tossed his sword aside, and the copy inanely reflected. This was just too simple.

Strapped to his back was Tidus's sword, and knowing this was the right moment he quickly drew it out, bringing it over his head, and sliced in to the copy with one swift movement. It was immediately smashed into broken shards. "Hn…..Guess that was all." Sadly he held up the familiar, liquid metal sword before his face before finally relinquishing his thoughts of Tidus, retreating his own weapon and emerging from the mirror. By the time he exited more splits had emerged from the cracks, it was so covered in the white fractures that could barley be seen through anymore.

Braska entered next with a sense of nervousness and deep breath, not until he was already on the other side did he realize that he still had Yojimbo's sheathed sword n his hands. 'Hmm...It seems I've lost the hat...' He knelt down to laid it near the barrier separating him from the others before he proceed forward. He took another deep breath as he approached his doppelganger wearing the same uneasy expression. Seeing how he looked Braska straitened his face and sent a quick blow to the copy's stomach, the blow was met by the edge of another staff. Why did he even attempt a physical attack?

Braska lifted his hand casting a Firaga spell, it reflected back on to him, hitting him with a rush of flames that made him raise his hand to his face and stumble back a few steps. Braska sent the staff at it's stomach again, it did the same, but this time Braska lifted the rod, striking it in the chin, then sending the other blow with side of the staff across the copy's face making it fall to the ground. Maybe he wasn't doing so bad after all...

Braska extended the staff outward, ready finish it off, the but the copy raised it's staff in the same manner Braska did a second ago, blocking the attempted attack. Then he knocked the staff away with the other side of it's rod again mimicking moves.

Back on it's feet again, the copy sent the staff at Braska's stomach, but he managed to block it. Braska grabbed on to the reflected staff before it could be drawn back and pulling the copy towards him, striking it with his staff someplace in the torso and sending it to the ground again. Braska thrust the staff downward at the copy only to find that it was being blocked again. This wasn't working.

Braska steeped back, about to cast a protect spell when he saw the copy was still mimicking his actions, the last thing he needed was for this thing to have more protection.. This was harder then he expected, he had nothing that it couldn't copy. Thinking back, Shuyin used Tidus's sword to trick the copy...and he'd accidentally brought Yojimbo's with him.

With a new sense of hope, Braska dashed for the sword, the copy running after him only a second behind. Braska dived, taking the sword in to his hands and rolling, stopping on his knees facing the copy as he tossed away the sheath The reflection ran in to the blade extended in front of it, shattering before the copy could take another step toward the summoner.

"I didn't think you'd make it for a second. "Shuyin rubbed his head with a nervous smirk when Braska returned.

"I wouldn't have if it wasn't for this sword." Braska silently thanked Yojimbo for leaving it behind. Now the mirror was so close to breaking that it looked as the slightest touch would smash it.

Inoringo waited to see if it would... but it was clear that he would have to fight, his was the only reflection still being shown. So with an inward groan of disappointment the faythe went forward, handing off the sphere Recorder to Jecht.

He didn't go in with out some sort of a plan though, he was still weak, there was no way he would win head on and he knew it. A copy of him was created and emerged from the darkness... He started to think of how it was a simple plan so simple that he wondered if it would actually work. "Here goes nothing."

The boy faded, Bahamut reappearing in his place with a complete transformation, the copy did the same. With the little energy he had regained, he used impulse, forming spheres of static-electric energy around his body, and firing them at the copy with a loud roar, which did the same. The two sets canceled out, leaving Bahamut too weak to charge another impulse... He waited until the copy used impulse again, sure enough it did, and a waiting Bahamut began flapping his wings, lifting himself off the ground and turning around completely. Set of orbs came strait for him, all of them striking the while on his back between his wings. The independent appendage started to spin, sparking with the discharging energy of the attack, faster and faster until a gust of wind discharged, sending the blasts back at copy. Shattering the doppelganger on impact.

It worked, who would have guess that the mirror couldn't copy something already on his body.

The Faythe made his way out of the mirror, expecting it to shatter... but only more fractures came. Now it was completely white with splits and cracks, allowing no visibility past it.

"You can't be serious!" Jecht yelled, still recording, he punched the half broken mirror in anger, and still found he couldn't break through it. "Break Damnit!"

Braska walked over to it, peering through the cracks with shifting eyes until he found a spot he could see through. "There's someone in there….!"

The glass shattered in front of Braska's face much to his surprise, followed by a low rubbing when an earthquake started. "Jecht, your stronger then you look." Braska said with evident sarcasm, watching some one stumble out and collapse to the ground... It was Chappu, Wakka's little brother.

Braska examined the tired Chappu, lifting the nearly unconscious boy on to his feet. "Are you ok?" Braska pulled his arm over his shoulder and held him by the waist to keep him from faltering.

Chappu's head dropped, a momentarily dazed expression flashing in his eyes before he shook it away and looked up "…I-I think so….Who are you…?"

! - ! - !

"Hey! Chappu!" Wakka shouted excitedly, a smile coming on to his face at the sight of his brother.

"But…..How? I thought the Farplane was destroyed." Lulu inquired with mild misunderstanding, she forgot about that for the moment when the baby woke up with a small cry.

"This is getting exciting!" Rikku leaned closer, the excitement in her voice enough to rival Wakka's.

Tidus picked up the Sphere, abruptly stopping the image from translating out onto a projected hologram. "Well that's all the excitement you getting out of this one, that's the end of it."

"There's another one right? I can't wait to see what happens."

"Let's take a break." Yuna stood up with a stretch, he arms reaching up toward the star filled sky over Bevelle.

"Aww!" Rikku pouted, letting her self fall back on to the ground.

Tidus suddenly heard his stomach growling, "Yeah, I'm kinda hungry." He just now realized _how_ hungry he was.

The whole village got up from around the fire, Stretching out and walking around.

"Come on Tidus, I'll make you something to eat." Lulu offered.

"Thanks."

"Anyone else hungry?"

It seemed that everyone was a little hungry especially Yuna, Rikku and Paine, did she really have to ask? They hadn't eaten in…..

"Hmmm…..let's see. Nothing after Tidus showed up. Nothing this Afternoon because of the speech . And nothing this morning because off a big fiend...this was a really long day." Rikku said with realization that this had indeed been a long 24 hours.

"I guess we are a little hungry." Yuna said with a small laugh.

"A little? Try a lot!" Rikku half shouted.

Even though it was somewhere around midnight, all of Besaid was active. But eventually everyone fell asleep before they could see the second sphere. So they decided to pick it up tomorrow.


	18. Chapter 17 Farplane sphere part 3

Chapter 17: Farplane sphere part 3

Somewhere during the last sphere and this one, Chappu had introduced himself and told his story of happened. He had survived the destruction of the Farplane, barley getting in the vicinity of Shuyin's power after the ground collapsed under him, but ended up knocked unconscious in the combination of the blast in the fall. When he woke up at the gate of the destroyed Farplane he was behind the mirror fighting off a copy of himself. It took him about 20 minutes to beat it, the hard way after it had copied and improvised all his moves. Needless to say, he wasn't in good shape afterwords.

"We've got a bigger problem then that." Jecht pointed the recorder down at the ground, the formerly soft earthquakes were getting worse. Basically the whole process was a chain reaction. Starting from inside what used to be the Farplane where the mirror was created, the mirrored world was breaking apart. They succeed in breaking through the mirror...but did they really want to?

"What are we supposed to do about it?" Shuyin was forced to shout over the large rumbling.

"There is nothing we can do except wait and move." Braska said disappointedly.

"And _were_ do we go? The Farplane?"

"Bad idea, there are a whole bunch of fiends there...what's left of it anyway." Chappu told them.

"Fiends?" Auron found that questionable.

"Yeah, there everywhere in there."

"If the Farplane was destroyed, how can fiends still be there?" Auron asked.

"Let's go find out, it's better then sitting around here." Jecht walking unhesitantly in to the gateway first, hosting his sword on to his shoulder.

Braska nodded, getting in step to follow when he remembered Chappu. Shuyin volunteered himself to helped, assisting Chappu to his feet, wrapping the boy's arm around his shoulder. " Hold on, if there are fiends you'll never make it like this."

Braska pressed his hands against Chappu's bare chest, closing his eyes with light concentration as he cast a spell. An orb of white light appeared in his hands, pressing into Chappu's chest. For a second a white aura surrounded Chappu's body, but quickly faded away.

Now feeling much better, Chappu lifted his arm from Shuyin's shoulder, flexing it around. "Thanks ya, I feel much better."

! - ! -!

Jecht looked around the remains of the Farplane, making sure to record all of it. A few hundred fiends had converged here as if standing on air, they seem to be on glass, a window in to a dark abyss under it. But the glass was cracked in most places, and continually fracturing, he could see more splits forming in some places, he could hear them as well.

"Hn.. All of this is an illusion, or mirror." Jecht could tell just by looking, some of the Fiends were fading, and others had pieces that just seemed to fade away. "Ok, there not real, how dose that help us?" Nothing could really help them, because they didn't know what was happening, or what they were even going to do.

"What do you think that is?" Shuyin asked, pointing to spot in the center where a small ray of white light shined through like the sunlight through clouds. "It's strange isn't it…. How one tiny ray of light can make it through all of that darkness, let alone be seen from here."

"It may be a way out." Braska motioned, peering at over the sea of darkness and fiends to the light in question.

"It can't be much worse then what's under there ya." Chappu said, looking at the darkness under the glass like structure.

"Think we should go for it? Look's like it's going fall through at any moment." Jecht said worriedly, watching a section of the glass to his left shatter.

"Were just going to have hurry then." Braska spoke this time with confident tone, some how he'd convinced himself that they should go through with this. He was right, what other choice did they have? It wasn't like they could go back.

Auron stepped on to the first glass, Inoringo seemingly unafraid followed. Seeing it didn't immediately fall through, they were followed in precession by Chappu and Shuyin and lastly Braska and Jecht. All of them ran across, trying to avoid the fiends, or what was left of them at least. Despite his lack of speed, Auron was able to avoid all off the fiends and make it first.

"Damnit move!" Jecht shouted, as a large (and heavy) Adamantine stood in his way, he found it there best option was to go past it. Braska went around while Jecht, which it was currently paying attention too, jumped on the hard shell and ran down it's back. He got away just in time when the weight of the Adamantine became to much for the already weak glass and the fiend fell through, it seemed that was the last bit the ground could take .The glass began to shatter in a slow cascading effect that went from the outward edges toward the center.

"That's not good ya." Chappu looked back and saw the ground breaking apart behind him, while in front of him an Omega weapon that didn't seem to care.

" Just keep going!" Shuyin dropped down and slid under it, while Chappu jumped up, landing agilely on it's head and sliding down it's back before it could catch him.

Just barley they caught up the others at the center just as the whole mirror beneath them gave way, letting through all of the light that had been concealed under the mirror's surface. Each of them was engulfed in the bright white light, so intense that it over rid the senses, they almost didn't notice that they were falling.

After a few seconds the light dimmed and their eyes adjusted, allowing normal site again, still surrounded on all sides by the illumination. "Didn't we fall down here before?" Jecht called out, looking down but able to see nothing but pure white, they were approaching another mirror.

And fell in to like water.

They found themselves suddenly on sold ground, mirrors breaking all around them in large shards, creating explosions when they shattered. "What the" A nervous Jecht was cut off by Auron.

"It's just in illusion, it's not real."

Chappu looked back nervously "This is really creepy ya? Are you sure it's not real?" A wave of fire was coming right at them.

"This must be what's happening outside." Braska realized, watching the approaching flames, that quickly swept over them. Auron was the only one who didn't flinch, easily keeping his calm demeanor while watching the red haze through his glasses. When Braska thought about it, it made sense, it was just like how they were able to see over on to the other side through the lens of the sphere recorder. Now that the mirror was losing reflectiveness it was just like a lens.

"Is that another illusion?" Braska asked, watching as a few mirror fragments come together sloppily into a relatively square form, they didn't even fit. The jagged formation flashed a quick image and smashed as a large beast broke through it. It was some thing that seemed to be a Chimera type monster, or something of that mixture.

It had the body of a Behemoth, with a forest of the green tentacles of a Marlboro twitching out of the side of it's torso. The wings of a Zu were attached to it's back, all the head of a Behemoth, all together it turned out to be a large monstrosity.

"Yes." Auron replied, raising his sword in a ready position.

"Did somebody tell him that?" Jecht slipped his hand under the read headband and rubbed his forehead in aggravation, clearly they were in for a fight.

"This isn't good ya." Chappu said, realizing that he was the only one with out a weapon.

Braska tossed him Yojimbo's sword. "Think you can use that?"

Chappu was pretty handy with a sword, just not one this long and with this type of blade, he was used to things with a lot more weight to them. "I can learn ya."

The fiend opened it's sharp toothed mouth, spewing forth a green mist of bad breath, something they really couldn't escape from. Braska quickly used an healing spell, curing any status that may have taken effect.

The large fiend flapped it's wings, sending a rush of wind at the group that swept away the remaining mist and pushed them back. "This thing is already starting to piss me off!" Jecht shouted, raising his arm over his arm, fighting against the current towards the beast. He'd had time to take another over look of his surrounds "Hey, Isn't somebody missing?" the Faythe was gone.

"Don't worry." Shuyin tried to reassure him, before he could finish, a large flailing tentacle slammed in to him from the side, almost knocking him off balance.

"Thundaga!" Braska lifted the staff, sending a large bolt of lighting down on the Fiend, halting the next quick attack. Free from the repelling wind, Jecht charged at the creature, slashing at it with his sword. The Fiend moved to agilely the side, managing to evade with only a tentacle being hit.

Auron came from behind, strike the monster in it's back between the wings. It howled in pain, flailing it's wings wildly trying to push him back. In a very quick movement, the beast pivoted around, bucking Auron with it's horns and driving him back. The fiend slammed it's wings in to Jecht with a loud clam, knocking him back as well.

The Chimera stomped it's hoofed feet on the ground, snorting loudly then charged at Braska like a bull. The summoner extended a hand, using a blind spell. A black shroud covered the Fiend's eyes, allowing Braska to step out of the way with out it's knowledge. The rampaging beast was running for Chappu now.

He stepped to the side, extending the sword outward and letting the beast run head first to the blade. A loud howl came from the monster as it stumbled back, a large bleeding cut left across the side of it's face, started to flail and buck wildly. Knocking away Chappu and some how dispelling the blind spell.

Able to see clearly again, the Chimera stuck the endless mass of Marlboro tentacles protruding from it's side in the ground. The Fiend started to flap the large black wings again, sending another strong wall of wind that kept them away and preventing them from attacking. With one foot planted behind him, Braska lifted his hand and cast another Thundaga spell, the large lighting strike put a halt to burst of winds, letting Shuyin through.

He ran past it, striking the beast on his way through. Shuyin landed another blow on his way back, the beast reached out trying to strike him with the large clawed paws. Shu easily jumped to the side, attacking the beast as he did so. Finally jumping back and avoiding another large hand, returning to his previous position beside Braska.

"Wha-What?" The planted tentacles resurfaced from the ground, wrapping around Braska's arms and legs. The long appendages stretched when the Beast charged at Braska, head tilted down, ready to strike with it's horns. Auron jumped in front of the captured summoner, holding his sword down. Pulling the large blade up from the ground and sending it in to the Beast's chest, lunching it in to the air. Giving Braska enough time pull his way free, With a small nod of gratitude the summoner cast a Flare spell on the protruding tentacles that had once bound him. Severing them with an explosion of energy.

The tentacles grew back with a spasm, a new and larger one's erupted from the burnt buds. Braska moved out of the way from the rapidly growing appendages, becoming tree like structures. More of them came from the ground until the floor was covered in green tentacles, large ones and small.

"What the hell is this?" Jecht quickly found that if he didn't move, he would sink. So he charged toward the creature, crouching to avoid two large arms that tried to grab him. Jecht thrust the sword in to the Chimaera's stomach, pulling the blade up through it's heart and out of it's shoulder.

The Fiend howled a screeching like sound, almost falling over. But from the bloody wound, tentacles thrust out covered in blood, severing what was left of the arm, a few of them planting themselves in to the ground.

"You can't be serous!" Jecht growled thrusting the sword down into the ground to slice through some of the tentacles that has latched on to his ankles. At lest now the Chimera couldn't move.

The large bulk of tentacles that replaced the arm lashed over them, the attack was halted by Chappu, who lifted the blade and sliced off at lest half of the appendages. The rest were burned off by another Flare spell from Braska.

The Zu wings started to flap again, striking them with another wall of wind. But it was easily driven back by a highly motivated Shuyin with one thrust of both swords he now wielded, turning the current back on to the Fiend. He had Tidus's sword, why not use it? Two were better then one right?

Auron and Jecht followed up, Jecht going around behind and Auron attacking from the front. With a swing of the two blades, they sliced through the Fiend's back and left leg, only unleashing more tentacles.

"Anybody else find this pointless?" Chappu grunted, hacking away at the forest of tentacles constantly reaching at him from the ground, the chimera didn't even have a body anymore, it was just a sea of those green appendages.

Shuyin calmly grabbed on to Chappu's waist and pulled him backwards. "Wha?"

A beam of light came from where Chappu had been standing, a loud roar coming from below. "This is it!" Shuyin called out anticipantly "Move back!" Followed by a Mega Flare that rose from beneath the tentacles, engulfing the center and spreading out with a flash of sparking electricity. Some how, the blast didn't hit them, thanks to Shuyin's warning.

When the smoke cleared, they found themselves falling again toward the source of the light, Bahamut above them and obviously the creator of the attack. The light grew brighter as they fell deeper, until they couldn't see any longer.


	19. Chapter 18: Akagi Sphere Finale

Chapter 18: Akagi sphere finale

Chappu hit the ground, landing on his back hard enough to bounce up a few feet, Auron landed next to him, and Braska landed on top of him. Shuyin landed painfully on his stomach, and Jecht was the only one who managed to land on his feet. But was quickly swept off by a large quake and gust of wind from the falling Bahamut landing.

"Sorry Auron." Braska lifted himself off of the guardian, rubbing his slightly bloody head while Jecht helped Auron up.

"Chappu? Are you alright?" Shuyin asked, kneeling over him.

The boy opened his eyes, now half red, staring upward, squinting. "Where are we?"

It was completely white above them, it was white all around, but under them was another mirror, sitting over a body of water. Shuyin shook his head. "I don't know."

There was a sliding sound coming from above them, Braska was the first to notice it. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but he knew it was getting louder, that was never good. "I think we need to get going." He suggested worriedly.

"Where do we go?" Jecht looked about him, noticing he no longer had the recorder. But he found it a few feet away from him, and after a small examination luckily wasn't broken.

"What about breaking this glass?" Braska asked.

Auron looked down, this glass was thick here, too thick to get through. "It'd take to long, we have to find another way."

They spread out, searching for a hole or some sort of weak point. It didn't take long though.

"There's no way out of here….." Jecht said almost to himself, looking down at the body of water under them, it seemed father away then when he first saw it. "

No, that can't be? There has to be some way……." Braska looked down, then looked up when he heard the ever present sound becoming louder. They were running out of time...

"I found something, it's not a way out but……"Shuyin called them over, pointing to a large crack where Bahamut landed. He found it right after the Aeon reverted back to his faythe form. "We can go through it if we break through."

"For get about that...Time's up….." Jecht said, pointing the camera strait up to catch a view of the hoards of debris starting to rain down on them, shards of the broken mirror. Auron lifted his sword and brought the tip down on the fractured section, nearly frantic, someone who didn't know him may have mistaken what he looked like at the moment for fear. He managed to break through with one blow, but was only able to open up a hole big enough for one person to go through at a time.

"Go, I'll try to hold it off." Braska didn't know exactly what _it_ was, but it would end up smashing them if they didn't hurry. The summoner lifted his staff in the air, casting a Barrier spell that delayed the enormous shards at lest for a few seconds at a time before the weight became too much and it broke through.

"Guess I'm first." Chappu sheathed Yojimbo's sword and jumped in, ready for the prospect of water. Shuyin and Inoringo followed.

"Come on! Let's go!" Jecht prompted before going in after the three. They could see it now, peering through the white light. It was gathered pieces of the mirror world, all of it was coming down together, explosions and all. It was a horrifying sight to see coming down on you... At lest half of it was on fire, they could feel the heat from here, making the air distort and waver, making breathing that much harder.

"Go!" Auron shouted, physically forcing Braska to leave first.

"Sure?" He asked, casting another barrier spell with heavy breaths. By now they could reach up and touch it, it was falling too fast, if Braska went first, it would probably crush Auron before he could get his feet off the ground. But If Braska went last he'd have a better chance casting spells to slow it down.

"Yes! Go!" Auron prompted, Braska silently obeyed, jumping in to the hole, just as the spell failed. Auron knelt down, placing the sword in-between the burning remains and the ground, giving him just enough time to slide through.

What ever piece of mirror was holding the falling mass back was easily demolished. Letting the burning mound chase after them with a roar worse then thunder.

"We have to stop it." Braska shouted up to Auron, noticing the fall was longer then they first thought. He was right, it was to big to get past when they hit water, the ocean under them wasn't deep enough for that and the undertow would be hell.

From below, Bahamut rose up, catching Braska on the circular plate that floated above his wings. The dragon open his mouth, and sent out a powerful mega flare. The beam was able to tare through some of the falling debris, breaking it apart and destroying a portion of it.

Holding his staff in both hands Braska cast a haste spell on both of them, and a Full cure on Bahamut. Giving him enough strength to keep fighting. Another Mega flare fired from Bahamut, the white beam broke off more of the debris from the hellish mass and incinerating it. "Wateraga!" Braska shouted, knocking away a large chuck of the burning wrekage coming at him with large bubbles.

A particularly large bubble surrounded the whole wreckage, clearing away the flames and loosening some on the side. The fire had melted and molded the debris in to an even and smooth mirror that almost made them look like ants when they starred up at, it was almost like looking at a planet from space. They didn't have much time either, they were finally getting close to the water.

Chappu's overdrive: 100

Auron overdrive: 100

Jecht overdrive: 100

Braska overdrive: 100

Shuyin overdrive:100

Bahamut's overdrive: 100

Bahamut started aiming for the sides, trying to take off enough for them to escape from, to at least just slip past.

"Mandingo!" Braska's overdrive to an immediate effect, A red light covered the complete radius of the structure, followed by a ringing sound that became painfully loud. Until it resulted in a massive almost deafening explosion that covered the whole mirror in a haze of fire once again.

Thick sheets fell off from all sides, effectively breaking down the mirror to a smaller size, but not small enough. Bahamut may have been able to finish breaking it down, but he was busy taking out all of the falling shards and sheets that threatened to knock him out of the air. It became clear that he wouldn't have enough time to actually _do_ it, the only option he had was to escape. Using the remaining bit of the haste spell, Bahamut dropped down in to a strait noise dive, grabbing the only person he could, which was Auron. And moving out of the way.

Just barley, the dragon spanned the whole Mirror in one flight and made it to safety out side the mirror's range before it hit the water. Shuyin, Jecht, and Chappu had no choice but to dive and move while Braska, Bahamut and Auron tried to break more off above the surface..

"What do we do now!" Chappu asked, swimming backwards to avoid the mirror.

"We're going to have to get around it." Shuyin told him, the only option they had.

"We'll never make it! It's suicide!" Jecht looked down at his sword, the stared ominously at the falling bulk. He could already feel it's pull.

From above with an audible splash, Bahamut dove into the water, catching all three on the wheel on his back. His weight helped him sink.

He wasn't exactly the fastest thing in the water, especially with out Braska's haste spells, but they would have a better chance. All they had to do now is take out the falling debris, and I use that term loosely, obstructing Bahamut's path.

The obstructions in question were thick walls of mirror that were falling from the side of the mirror. Bahamut could easily take it out with a mega flare, but he'd probably drown trying, and with every limb in use for swimming, he couldn't help.

The obstructions weren't exactly small, some of them were the size of boulders and things much larger. Something that fit that description came hurdling towards Bahamut's head, Jecht pulled his sword back at his side with both hands and drove the blade in to the center of the rock like structure, smashing in to smaller pieces that scattered out of the way.

It was hard, the sheer amount of things coming down on them were hard to fight off. Chappu, Shuyin and Jecht worked diligently to keep any of them from hitting Bahamut.

Jecht noticed that Bahamut was starting to slow down, the dragon wasn't exactly suited for underwater, that was clear. The Aeon was still holding his breath, not an easy task when swimming that distance. "Keep going, were almost there….." Jecht told him, knocking away and destroying more falling chucks. The end of the large structure was in sight, 500 feet at the most.

All three of the dived off the dragon as soon as they reached the edge, Bahamut just wasn't strong enough to hold that form... forcibly reverting back to the Faythe form. Jecht pulled the tired boy on to his back, safely out of reach of the mirror or any undertow, and went for the surface, not exactly a quick swim.

A large crashing sound echoed from the ocean floor when the mirror finally crashed. Shaking the ground and sending strong current upward along with more debris and dust. With the help of the upward stream, they were able to make to the surface quickly.

As soon as the emerged Jecht, much to his relief, could hear the boy take a deep, staved breath, filling his deprived lungs with air followed by a series of violent coughs.

The mirror protruded from the water at lest a hundred feet above sea level, it was like being in the valley of cliff, so clean and reflective it was hard to see where the ocean stopped and the mirror began. "Braska and Auron." Jecht held on to Inoringo's wrist to make sure he didn't accidentally slip off, he had to give him a few light slaps to keep him alert. "Are they up there?"

Inoringo nodded with a weak groan, barely managing to do so before his body became completely limp and he fell unconscious

"Well, it's not a bad thing." Chappu shrugged, beginning his assent up the smooth surface.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Glad to see you all are safe." Braska knelt down before the edge with a smile of relief spreading across his face, greeting them as soon and they scaled the wall. The first thing they noticed was different about him was that he had a pair of sunglasses on. Where did he get those?

"Huh? Are those Auron's?" Jecht drove his sword into the ground, with one hand on the edge he pulled himself up, Inoringo hanging loosely over his shoulder.

"Yes, how do I look?" The summoner asked playfully.

Jecht laid Inoringo down, checking over him to make sure he was more or lese alright, or as well as to be expected for someone in his condition. Seeing that he was alright Jecht brushed past Braska looked around for Auron.

Standing not too far off, looking over the reflective land they were now residing on for anything else beside mirror, water and sky .

Jecht handed Chappu the recorder and walked over to Auron, glancing over the man's shoulder when he was sure he wasn't expecting it. With an annoyed grunt the warrior monk turned his back on Jecht, trying to ignore him since he wasn't in the best mood at the moment.

Jecht slipped pat Auron's side and quickly moved in front of him, grabbing a hold of his shoulders with an impish grin so he couldn't move.

An unconcealed Auron gave him an agitated glare, one that grew colder and more annoyed with each second, if looks could kill...

"I think you should leave him alone, he looks kinda mad ya. And he still had that sword." Chappu placed a nervous hand on Jecht's shoulder, trying to convince to leave Auron alone. Jecht didn't listen and only brushed away Chappu's hand, still trying to get a complete look at the man. Finally having enough Auron pushed him away, sending him falling to the ground.

"I thought so ya." Chappu sighed...noticing the Sphere recorder laying on the ground near where Jecht had fallen...Hey it's still on." Chappu picked up the discarded deceive, turned the Recorder around so that he could look in to the lens before handing it off to Jecht with no use for it.

"Hey, Shuyin…."Jecht did a small assessment of it himself, it still had a little space left on the Sphere that he hoped wasn't damaged from all of the commotion. Since they had nothing better to do at the moment, and there was no need to waste perfectly good space, why not use it? Jecht climbed off of the ground, deciding to leave Auron alone for the moment, and made his way over to Shuyin. "If you got anything to say to Tidus, better say it now." "Huh?" "There's no point it keeping the sphere here."

Shuyin sat down at the edge of small island they now seemed to be stranded on, one leg drawn up with both of his arms resting on them. He just sat and stared... "There's nothing to say."

"Oh come on, you can say something." It was apparent that Jecht wasn't going to leave him alone until he said something. "You know you wanna."

"Fine, as long as you leave me alone... Tidus... Thank you, for everything, and tell Yuna I'm sorry…" Shuyin turned around, making it clear that was all he was going to say.

"Braska, I know you wanna say something to Yuna." Jecht turned the recorder on to Braska.

The summoner smiled proudly, adjusting the sunglasses that he seemed to be enjoying with his finger. "Well, I'm proud of you Yuna, you managed to save Spira.. twice. And I'm sorry I missed so much of your life, I hope your happy... Auron tells me you've grown a lot, and your in Besaid now. I guess it's easier then Bevelle, it's perfect for you. Oh and Tidus, thanks for your help, make sure you take care of Yuna for me."

Besaid? Yuna was in Besaid, so Tidus no doubt would got to Besaid...which meant this sphere would go to Besaid. "Oh, this is going to Besaid right?" Chappu asked.

"Yeah I guess so." Jecht shrugged, allowing Chappu to say something after he mentioned his brother lived there.

"Wakka I hope your doing alright ya. I heard you helped beat Sin, guess you knew what your were doing...I kinda screwed up Huh, Sorry bro. Oh and tell Lulu I said hi, I hope you've been taking care of her like I asked...It's been strange being dead ya, hope everything's alright down in Besaid."

"Auron? If you wanna say something, better do it now." Jecht called over to him, in his usual quiet manner he declined. So Jecht turned the recorder on to a sleeping Inoringo, announcing that the boy had a very _long_ day before turning it on to himself "Guess that leaves me ……Well it was good seeing you again Tidus, considering the whole Sin thing and all… At least you toughened up…"

"Wait, if they're there, how did they get the spheres here?" Rikku asked.

"The Faythe." Paine told her.

"Oh. I wondered what happened to them." Rikku got up and stretched out.

"Guess a lots happened." Yuna sighed, watching the crowd disband.

"Yeah, guess your right." Tidus agreed with a nod. "Well, what's next?"

"Dose it really matter?"

"Not really…"

End of Part 1

Like I said before, I got at lest 2 sequels coming up. Look for them soon.


End file.
